Blueneck multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Duncan Attwood reflects on long-awaited album Moonlighting, which was created against a backdrop of personal crisis, as well as how it felt to be slapped with the post-rock tag and to play a slot at Glastonbury.A key cog in Bristol post-rock outfit Blueneck, Duncan Attwood – alongside musical comrade Richard Sadler – has been among the leading lights of the British underground scene for more than two decades. It’s been 10 years since their last album The Outpost, but it wasn’t meant to be that way.The Covid pandemic and serious illnesses put spanners in the works, all brought into sharp focus when Attwood himself suffered a stroke a couple of years ago. The cinematic, introspective left-leaning outfit are back in fine form on a record they felt they just had to release – even if the band’s future looks unclear.New album Moonlighting has been 10 years in the making. How does it feel to get to this point?If I had to pick one word, it would be ‘relief.’ The process was different this time: we started recording a year after the last album and it was going to be released a couple of years after. Everything was going well, and then the shit started to hit the fan. Mat Sampson, our long-term producer, his wife got really sick; luckily she recovered. But it meant we weren’t able to work as much as we could with him.And then obviously there was a little thing called a global pandemic. Unlike other bands we just couldn’t work remotely. Finally, we got it going again, to the point that I was getting all the vocals done. A week later, I had a full-on stroke, and that obviously derailed everything yet again. At that point we thought, “Fuck it, let’s just forget the whole thing.” And then I had this realisation that we’ve got basically a nigh-on complete album, and if we don’t release it now I could die and these tracks might never see the light of day, and that would be a shame because I’m of the impression that they’re pretty good.The album went through three mixes. I think I pissed everyone off because I was a bit of a perfectionist – I treated it like this was our last.Moonlighting has been described as Blueneck’s most honest and emotive album yet. What are some of its themes?I write lyrics on two different layers. I write songs so they’re on a personal level, but I try not to make that really obvious. I don’t like songs that tell the listener what to think or what the song is about. Songs mean something personal to me, but then they also have this overall theme, which I hope translates to the listener.(Image credit: Press)I’ve always liked albums that go on a journey: Moonlighting has quite an angry and resentful side one, and then it becomes more reflective as the album progresses. Whether or not the listener thinks of it that way, that’s up to them – I’m ok with people thinking differently.Influences for the album include everything from Mogwai and Cult Of Luna to Depeche Mode, Prince and Genesis. Is there a fairly varied melting pot of inspiration in Blueneck?I spent a week on tour with Cult Of Luna, playing keys. It was the most terrifying week of my lifeI think people always assume we are post-rock fans ourselves, and nothing is probably further from the truth. I grew up in the 80s; I was discovering all these sounds like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell. As I grew up, so to speak, I then got into rock music and completely fell in love with 90s rock, in particular Smashing Pumpkins. One of my all-time favourite albums is Siamese Dream.This album is heavily influenced by that – not by songwriting, but by things like guitar sounds and drum patterns. The influences are always hidden. And then I’m adding in things like Cult Of Luna: I spent a week on tour with them, playing keys. That was the most terrifying week of my life – they’re such talented musicians, and I’m far off from a talented musician. That was a week of me just trying to keep up with those guys, but I learned so much from one week with them. Do you mind the post-rock tag? I think music genres help you. Before we were given that tag, to be completely honest, I’d never even heard of it. It was 2005; we were playing in clubs and stuff. We were in Manchester and someone came said, “You’re a great post-rock band.” I went home and I was like, “What the fuck is post-rock?” At that time you had chatrooms and message boards, and that’s how people discovered Blueneck, by saying, “There’s this new post-rock band.” That’s how we became, let’s say, popular. Without being given a genre, no one would have heard of us. I’m sure some people would give their right arm to play Glastonbury. It looks good on your CVBlueneck played Glastonbury in 2014 – what was that experience like?It was alright; it was okay. I grew up going to Glastonbury when it was quite a different festival; Let’s just say people weren’t going there to be seen to be going. It used to be an amazing place and a really exciting festival to go to.When we played, I felt there was quite a snobbiness to it. I’d much rather play a small club in eastern Germany where they appreciate the effort that you make to bring your music to them. But that’s just one person’s opinion.Glastonbury’s 25 minutes up the road from me; I played it, I came home, I slept in my own bed. I probably sound like a bit of a dick for saying that, and I’m sure there would be people who would give their right arm to play Glastonbury. And it looks good on your CV.