French sextet Moriarty formed in 1995 but it took them four more years until they found their unique sound, according to their harmonica player Thomas Puéchavy.
Puéchavy pinpoints singer Rosemary Standley's arrival into the band and losing their drummer as the moment they went acoustic.
“Then there was a sense in what we were playing because of this incredible voice that was there. After that we lost our drummer so we became an acoustic band. At that moment we really thought about the sound we were making, the instruments we were using and what it meant. One of the important steps that made our sound different was the fact of going acoustic, losing the drums, losing the electricity.”
Moriarty don't want to be pigeonholed though, something they encountered from their bluesgrass influenced track Jimmy, off their first album.
“After the first record, we kind of had the feeling that a part of our identity wasn't maybe being pursued. We had this song, Jimmy, [from Gee Whiz…] that had maybe a bluegrass kind of country feeling to it, and people identified with that song and what our sound should be, but that wasn't what we were about – it was just a song that came out in one moment in our lives. It was a great pleasure to know that the song was appreciated, but it was also a shock to think that our band would be only that.”
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