INTERVIEW Chino Moreno: “I was listening to Howard Jones in 6th grade.”
In conversation with electro-goth duo Crosses.
I spoke to Chino Moreno and Shaun Lopez about their project Crosses just after the release of the new album Goodnight, Good Bless, I Love U, Delete.
(Stream the same interview, but with music by the band and additional commentary:)
Moreno, Lopez and I spoke about Robert Smith, friendship, high school, avoiding metal stereotypes, and why the ‘90s Sacramento music scene was an ideal incubator for young bands. Of course Moreno and Lopez discussed how Crosses gives them room to stretch compared to the alt-metal style they’re most known for creating in the Deftones and Far, respectively. In Crosses, the pair gets to indulge a shared love of groups like Depeche Mode and The Cure, beatmaking, and studio gadgetry—stirring it all together into a distinct blend that straddles dance-y electro-goth, New Wave, and hip hop with a dose of chunky guitars thrown-in for good measure.
Not to be overlooked is the duo’s ability to elicit a sense of mood. On the intensely mournful “Runner,” for example, Lopez and Moreno create the musical equivalent of, say, looking out onto a night fog illuminated by a neon glow—all while enveloping the listener in a thick blanket of emotion. When I listen to songs like “Runner” and “Sensation,” a powerful wave of melancholy comes over me regardless of whatever mood I’m in priot to hitting play. It’s as if Lopez (the production mastermind behind Crosses’ sonic architecture) envisions the music the way a cinematographer might conceive a lighting arrangement as a way to frame a shot. With Goodnight, God Bless, and the 2022 precursor EP PERMANENT.RADIANT, Lopez comes into his own as a master of staging a scene.
Prior to late 2022, Crosses had been out of the spotlight for the better part of a decade. Their glitchy style and visual aesthetic reminds me of Tumblr’s heyday. A lot has changed since Crosses first came onto the scene, and my jury’s still out as far as where I see their sound fitting into today’s climate—but that’s also the mystery that keeps calling me back to this music.
Initially, I was having trouble hearing any sort of consistency in the EP and the album. I questioned why they’ve even chosen to release a full-length at all, because I wasn’t hearing how we’re supposed to wrap our heads around Goodnight, Good Bless as a body of songs that gel as a complete listen. What stood out to me the most was the jagged, herky-jerky shifts in style from one track to the next.
But the more I sit with this material, the more it seems to me like there’s a method to Lopez and Moreno’s madness. After playing the album and the EP over and over in one chunk, I’m now hearing a flow in their preference for contrast. I’m also hearing a great deal of maturity in their sense of songcraft.
Stream the whole Crosses catalog on my playlist:
Also, for some really insightful commentary on what the Sacramento music scene was like from the perspective of a musician who was intimately involved in both Moreno and Lopez’s career from the beginning, I highly recommend watching this:
Enjoy!
<3 SRK