MUNA, a radical pop collective, is made up of vocalist Katie Gavin and instrumentalists Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin. It’s one of the last shows the band will play before their self-titled album is out. In a few hours, MUNA are set to perform at a sold-out show at The Garage, Highbury.
It takes singer and songwriter Katie Gavin to redirect the band to the current. Overlapping and fumbling through memories, the band are trying to pinpoint their last GAY TIMES interview. Now, on their upcoming self-titled album, contentedness is not an emotionally wrought proposition, but a permissible goal.
Since then, the band’s rise has been hallmarked by game-changing artists, notably Harry Styles, Phoebe Bridgers, and Kacey Musgraves. MUNA’s matured second album, Saves The World, arrived a couple of years later and remains a magnum opus of misery and enlightenment. Behind them, a pluralistic fanbase followed - a cult community that honoured the band’s on-scene ambush of unapologetic lyrics and buzzing melodies. Released in the same year, MUNA’s debut album About U arose as an 80s synth-pop pastiche amalgamating curiosity and queerness. Together, they surfaced with captivating college-pop confessionals and hyper politicised dance beats. So, MUNA did what they do best: persevere.Įmerging in 2017, MUNA aligned while studying at The University of Southern California. As a relentless pandemic-imbued music industry ground to a halt, the trio found themselves suddenly dropped from RCA Records in early 2021. A lot has changed since the Californian three-piece last spoke to GAY TIMES. Huddled together on a Shoreditch beer garden bench, the self-proclaimed “greatest band in the world” are feeling optimistic. It’s early afternoon and MUNA are having a late start. “MUNA is keeping punk queer –– that should be the title of this interview,” lead singer Katie Gavin quips.