The music brims with sparkling synth-heavy pop hooks, chanted melodies, sunny harmonies, and agile polyrhythmic grooves — a sound influenced by the New Wave stylings of their favorite artists Talking Heads, David Bowie, and The Police. “We started describing it as an ‘indie-pop fiesta’ and that kind of stuck,” says singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Nicholas Petricca.Launched in 2008 by Petricca, Walk The Moon has steadily made a name for itself as an unsigned band over the last few years, attracting a broad mix of fans who have happily submitted to a pre-show face-painting ritual conducted by band members to get everyone into the communal spirit of the event. “Sometimes it’s like, ‘Dude, what are you doing here? How have you heard of us?’” marvels guitarist Eli Maiman. “But they’re there, they’ve got face paint on, and they’re playing air guitar. It’s awesome. We just create the music we love and hope that other people love it, too.”

So who is Walk The Moon? Petricca, Maiman, bassist Kevin Ray, and drummer Sean Waugaman are all Ohio natives in their early 20’s who became acquainted in various ways. Petricca and Ray knew each other as toddlers (their mothers were close friends), Ray and Waugaman had played in bands together, and Petricca met Maiman through the local scene in Cincinnati.

“I like to write about this idea of feeling young throughout your life,” Petricca says. “’Anna Sun’ is about eternal youth, and it recalls a lot of my memories from college, but it also addresses the fear of losing that innocence and falling into a routine. I feel like the things we do to escape, like going out and partying, are to recapture the imagination you had a child, which is something that speaks to me personally as a songwriter. All of my favorite songs have always set my imagination running. In that sense, I love the idea that we could be a band that gets people into Neverland, and lets them make their own movie in their head while they’re listening.”