Mighty Jupiter & The Mooncake Band: fly me to the room

First of all, don’t be put off by this band’s long, emo-style name. In fact, Mighty Jupiter & The Mooncake Band is a pretty simple Latvian indie-post-rock ensemble led by Anton “Jupiter” Marchenko. Anton is what we can call the mastermind behind this musical project, since he is responsible, alone, for: lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, glockenspiel, synths, orchestral arrangements, drum programming, orchestral programming, recording, mixing, lyrics, production.

Now, Anton and the other Mooncake members are committed to promoting the incredibly rich “Forced fun for the Just OK Life“, whose cover, of a remarkably bored person, was reproduced by artificial intelligence. “I had this image stuck in my head for a while: a person so bored out of their mind, a simpleton ready to bang their head against the wall out of pure boredom“, explains Anton. And speaking of technology, this is a very controversial topic for the creative mind of the band’s frontman, who not only intends to redo the cover of his new album using a human model, but also recently decided to leave Spotify.

I’d rather have 1,000 listeners who truly care than 100,000 casual Spotify drive‑bys.

Anton ‘Jupiter’ Marchenko

We can say that Anton and his band are defenders of what we call “purism” and “organicity” in music. Despite the multiple sonic layers they impose on each track of the new album, varying sharply from one genre to another, what stands out is the composition and, of course, the performance. Across 13 well-rounded and well-defined tracks, the band showcases influences ranging from post-rock to synth-pop, indie-rock, and even arena rock. In their sound, there are rooms for everything. However, when it comes to labeling their sound, they pull out the style they recognize as “shoehaze”: “It’s a mad cocktail of shoegaze and everything else. Like after you’ve cracked a window, let some sunlight into a classy, sleepy shoegaze track”, says Anton.

I bet that after reading this review you no longer think the band’s name is completely crazy, right? On the Track By Track section bellow, you’ll find 13 reasons not to be bored, by the way.

2 5 Things about Mighty Jupiter & The Mooncake Band by Anton

RC: It’s impossible to begin the interview without mentioning the title, which is both lengthy and ironic. First, who is the bored person on the cover, and what exactly did you want—or not want—to say with “Forced Fun for the Just OK life”?

MJMB: Well, the current album artwork was created by me using AI—simple as that. I had this image stuck in my head for a while: a person so bored out of their mind, a simpleton ready to bang their head against the wall out of pure boredom. At the time, I couldn’t do an actual photoshoot with a real person, so I used AI to bring that vision to life. It worked out fine, I guess.

But lately, I’ve grown insanely skeptical about how AI is being used in music, literature, and visual arts. Sure, it’s great for brainstorming or analysis, but not for blatant “creation.” My perspective shifted after that infamous AI-generated “band” hit it big on Spotify. That was the final straw—I said, screw this.

I’m going to redo the cover art with real people. The concept stays the same, but it’ll be flesh and blood this time—probably me and Maria, our second vocalist, striking those same deliberately bored postures.

As for the album itself, the idea was simple: to express how people feel when they are forced to participate in forced activities. It explores the pressure to engage in socially expected behaviors, even when they seem robotic or numb, and how this can hide deeper problems like fractured relationships and a struggle to connect genuinely. It’s a story about taking back one’s humanity in a world that often pushes for conformity.

RC: Who was Ron Swanson and why did you decide to write a song about it?

MJMB: Ron is a character from the American sitcom called Parks and Recreation. A man of principle, just like me, haha. I wrote Who Shot Ron Swanson? (In the Clear) because that one split‑second gag on Parks and Recreation—when Tom, a cocky slacker, nails Ron with a stray bullet and then scrambles to dodge the blame—captured something bigger for me.

On the surface, it’s a funny scene, but underneath it’s all about responsibility, guilt, and the ways we duck hard truths. That tension felt like the perfect launch pad for a song. How often do we all pull a Tom? Whether it’s relationships, work, or our own demons, it’s easier to slip away than to face the mess head‑on.

Lyrically, I tried to keep that push‑and‑pull between escapism and accountability front and center.

Musically, the live version came out raw and scrappy. We wanted it to feel like a basement show where every amp’s just a little too loud but you don’t dare turn it down. That vibe on the studio cut is similar, but maybe with a bizarre flair of Duck Tales’ main theme, heh.

Long story short: a sitcom moment turned into a punk reflection on owning your mistakes. And I’m weirdly proud of how it all collided.

RC: Artists typically release singles and EPs these days, and you still invest in albums. Do you believe this format is still ideal for telling a story in track form?

MJMB: We ditched Spotify recently. Mr. Ek seems to love money and military drones more than musicians or listeners. Chasing algorithms for €0.00001 per stream is pure naivety at best. Never touched TikTok—ridiculous and useless for us. Bandcamp, Instagram, YouTube, plus a few hand‑picked streaming services actually work for Mighty Jupiter & The Mooncake Band.

Overall, there’s a huge difference in how people treat music on Spotify versus those other platforms. I’d rather have 1,000 listeners who truly care than 100,000 casual Spotify drive‑bys. So we stick to authenticity and focus on what matters. I love telling full, theatrical stories, and albums are perfect for that—ups, downs, twists, the whole arc. It works like a charm: Forced Fun for the Just OK Life turned out exactly as I imagined.

RC: How do you define your musical style and why this variation between SHOEGAZE and SHOEHAZE?

MJMB: I usually describe our sound as hanging out at the crossroads where early‑’90s shoegaze crashes into ragged DIY punk and noise core. The shoegaze part is the obvious stuff—wobbly guitar layers, delay trails that smear into one big watercolor wash, vocals mixed like another instrument instead of a spotlight. But we also keep the pulse fast, the hooks punchy, and the lyrics closer to real‑life panic and revelations.

That’s where the term “shoehaze”—coined by our mastering engineer Natalie Bibby—comes in. It’s a mad cocktail of shoegaze and everything else. Like after you’ve cracked a window, let some sunlight into a classy, sleepy shoegaze track. The textures stay cloudy, but the riffs are sharper and the melodies are clear enough to whistle while you wait for the bus.

Essentially, it all features the shoegaze glide, with typical reverbation at its core, but it’s mixed with an orchestral wall of sound, noisy experimental guitars, punk fuzz, electronic elements, pop melodies, and psychedelic hooks. Each time, the proportion is different and unintentional.

RC: Will we ever see Mighty Jupiter & The Mooncake Band in Brazil? What do you know about our country? Would you like to perform here?

MJMB: I really hope we will tour Brazil and South America in 2026. You’ve got a very strong music culture and picky listeners across different genres, which is amazing. By the way, our song, Renewal, used to get aired on a radio station and a TV channel in Brazil.

Track by Track

The Lake : A great opening for an album like this. Guitars reminiscent of bands like The Foals.

Catch me now: With Oasis-style drums and hypnotic vocals reminiscent of the Stone Roses, Catch Me Now literally captivates us.

Renewal: After the fiery rock of the first two tracks, “Renewal” brings the influence of bands like Blur

The Eeriest Summer: With a long intro and keyboards, this is certainly the most ethereal track on the album, Mogwai style.

Who Shot Ron Swanson? (In The Clear): Besides being humorous, this one is the most entertaining in my opinion. Perhaps it stems from its lyrics, which are reminiscent of a well-known comedy series.

Walk the Walk: The most Bowie track on the album, with a techno and “space” aura quite common in the band’s work.

Thermal Waters: Early Depeche Mode’s days kind of vibe, only with a female vocal. Amazing.

Fireworks: Not a Katy Perry cover, don’t worry. It’s much darker than this one, but still fun. Great duo between the male and female vocalists.

Superme: This is punk-rock. And we like it. 1,2,3…

Unfolded: The most pop track on the album, a passionate melody, an example of the versatility of this band that has everything to explode all over the world.

Intersected: Chaos and noise come together in the album’s most emblematic track.

Stardust And Rust: Pure progressive rock. Pure Pink Floyd. And we’re reaching the end of a great work.

Burden Erased: Unlike the previous track, which is more introspective and trippy, this one harks back to the powerful bass of bands like U2, which, combined with synth-pop, closes a dynamic and inventive work, leaving us wanting more.

🔺Anton ‘Jupiter’ Marchenko – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, glockenspiel, synths, orchestral arrangements, drum programming, orchestral programming, recording, mixing, lyrics, production
🔺Elena Kisel – lead vocals, backing vocals, recording
🔺Slava Kuderko – bass, recording
🔺Kirill Arsenyev – drums
🔺Oleg Novikov – drums
🔺Alexander Solovyov – recording, drums, mixing assistance
🔺Josh Tyrrell – mixing
🔺Dave Rhodes – mixing
🔺Max Ferrer – mixing
🔺Natalie Bibby – mastering (Metropolis London, AIR Studios)
🔺Recorded at Sol Recording Studio and Lostland Studio (Riga, Latvia)

Now, tell us: did you like the new Mighty Jupiter & The Mooncake Band album?