Tender Moon’s “Hologram Hideout” blends nebula-soaked dreams, raw emotion, and neon-lit nostalgia. In this interview, the band explores their safe-space sound, personal battles, and the cinematic world behind their debut album.
1. Your debut album, “Hologram Hideout,” introduces what you call “Nebula Rock.” Can you tell us how that term came about and what it means to you sonically and emotionally? We wanted to create a new term because we wanted to feel free in the description of our sound. With Nebula Rock we try to combine the dreamy and adventurous space-like feeling, brought to life by the Synthie- and atmosphere sounds, with the energetic and pushing rock style. Nebula Rock is an invitation to build your own story inside the diffuse glitter of stars and dreams.
2. There’s a fascinating contrast in your music — cold neon lights meet warm heartbeats, electronic pulses meet raw guitars. How do you find the balance between those opposites when you’re writing or producing songs? The balance comes from within. It is a mindset and a “without darkness there is no light” kind of thing. In our band we have many different influences and experiences. The combination of all leads us through those cold neon lights you mentioned and brings the warm heartbeat to life. Metaphorically. It is important to stay authentic and remember your raw emotions. Love and pain, hope and despair, belief and doubt. If you do that, the balance comes naturally.
3. The album touches deeply on themes like escapism, mental health, and FLINTA perspectives. How do your personal experiences shape the emotional core of “Hologram Hideout”? We have to battle with depression, panic attacks and anxiety disorders. The songs help us to channel those emotions. The music builds an individual safe space for us that brings us courage and security. We want to share this safe space with the world. Our idea is that every person can build its own safe space within Hologram Hideout. Especially for me (Tony), as part of the queer community, it is a personal concern to be loud and strong and give people a voice through our music.
Your sound draws inspiration from artists like The Sounds and Metric, but it still feels unmistakably your own. What influences — musical or otherwise — helped shape Tender Moon’s identity? The biggest influence might be a certain feeling. The mix of 2000s nostalgia and the will to move on. This is the core of Tender Moon and it is shaped by all the individual influences, styles and likings within the band. As we said, our music should feel like a safe space. A place where you can be whoever you want to be without the need to explain yourself to anybody all the time. It’s a bit like your own room as a teenager where you started your journey to identify yourself and your style. This room is long gone but you can create it in your mind and go back there without losing the motivation to go on. You can build your own Hologram Hideout.
5. There’s a cinematic, almost futuristic quality to your music — like driving through a neon-lit city at 2 a.m. If “Hologram Hideout” were a film, what would it look or feel like? Interesting question. We already told you about the 2000s nostalgia. But there is also this kind of 80s vibe. For example, in our song “Rollerblade Disco Life”. I think a movie would play in a dystopian future, full of crazy science, beautiful creative ideas but also social injustice and troubles. A world where a lot is masked with bright lights and big sounds. But in those big future neon light cities there are groups of rebels and dreamers that don’t want to go down in a cold and fake plastic world. So they try to live their own lives with Hologram Hideout as a Soundtrack. The movie would be a combination of Back to the Future from the 80s, Ghost in the Shell from 1995, a bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and some Wes Anderson in it. Something that would be really cool to watch.
6. As a band creating from Leipzig’s indie scene, how has your local environment influenced your sound or creative process? And what do you hope listeners take away when they step into your “hideout”? Leipzig is vibrant and colorful. It has a rich alternative scene and is one of the few big cities in the east of Germany where big concerts and festivals take place. But of course, not everything is great over here and social or political difficulties have an influence on our thinking and songwriting too. We hope that anyone just feels secure and well. Hologram Hideout is an offer to build your own safe space. We want you to remember that there is always a way. There will always be lights that guide you. Even if they seem cold at first. You are not alone and if you want you can take a ride with us through the metaphorically Neon-City that feels overwhelming most of the time. Our Album is the soundtrack to a journey you can create by yourself.
