Queens

Text: Ashley Simpson

electronic artist and frequent panda bear collaborator scott mou is the first person to admit that his debut album end times, released under the moniker queens a few weeks ago, isn’t quite what people expect. “when dial records asked me to do it, i was really shocked and very humbled—and i thought the label would expect something different—more techno, more house, more classic minimalist,” recalls mou. what he gave them was of another mood entirely. delicate, quietly expansive and, in mou’s own words, “excruciatingly intimate-sounding,” end times takes the listener into a quiet, closely introspective space. it was recorded in two parts—first with animal collective’s josh dibb at the good house upstate and later in berlin with dial’s phillip sollmann—and came out of a desire for a solitary and raw experience. “the story of the album goes all the way back to the early 2000’s,” says mou, who has also designed runway soundtracks for labels as diverse as thom browne, zero + maria cornejo, cloak, robert geller, doo.ri, and patrik ervell. “i was doing beat production on a project with noah lennox from panda bear and djing a lot, and even though i was a more techno guy, i wanted to do something— i needed to do something—that was in a different space. so i reached for the guitar. ”several years later, end times is here, with plenty of jandek/early-techno influences and gauzy, melancholic moments. mou will play parts of the album this summer in berlin and hamburg, before heading off to paris for the men’s shows."