Tom Ferris has used the Moev moniker to excise his musical inspirations for nearly 30 years.
Veering between industrial, gothic and straight-up rock 'n' roll, Moev have spanned many styles over their lifetime and maintained a particularly dark nuance that slots them alongside Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly and other purveyors of western Canada weirdness.
Ventilation is the first new Moev album in a decade and collects songs written and recorded in that time by Ferris. It also features his wife Julie on vocals and a series of studio visitors.
Truth be told, we might've heard some of the tracks from Ventilation far earlier, had certain events of late summer 2001 not intervened.
"Moev was going strong in the early 2000s and then 9/11 happens," says Ferris from his home near Tofino, B.C. "Drew Maxwell was playing guitar with us at the time and living in Bellingham, Washington. Crossing the border became a real nightmare for him so really, that closed the door on Moev and a lot of these songs for years.
"Honestly, I never would've thought they'd take 10 years to resurface, but that is exactly what happened."
Ventilation is a dense, dark album that should appeal to fans of any of the bands listed thus far or other outfits that Ferris has either joined or collaborated with in past, including Econoline Crush (Ferris was a founding member), Waiting For God, or his collaboration with The Grapes Of Wrath's Kevin Kane in Lazarazu.
Yet despite the pedigree, Moev remain a cult outfit throughout much of Canada, either beloved for their quarter century of industrial goodness or unknown for unwillingness to assimilate.
"Moev has really split most Canadian cities. Montreal, Quebec City and the entire province of Quebec has always been amazing for us," Ferris continues. "But for whatever reason, Toronto has never been a market we've done much with.
"I can't understand — I don't know if we're too advanced or there's just not an appetite for harder electronic music. Whatever the case, I've played some really bad, bad gigs in Toronto over the years."
Don't expect much, if any, live support for Ventilation since Moev stands as largely a studio project for the time being. Ferris says the situation would have to be just right to make efforts to reproduce these tracks on-stage.
In lieu, Ferris says Moev might fade into the background again sometime soon — just don't be shocked if Ferris brings Moev up for air again sometime in future.
