{"id":16742,"date":"2025-10-22T18:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T23:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=16742"},"modified":"2025-10-22T18:00:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T23:00:17","slug":"germanys-moons-in-retrograde-exhumes-fresh-rot-for-reworking-of-debut-video-single-the-rotten-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=16742","title":{"rendered":"Germany\u2019s Moons in Retrograde exhumes Fresh Rot for reworking of debut video-single, \u2018The Rotten Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Moons-in-Retrograde.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16743\" style=\"width:595px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Moons-in-Retrograde.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Moons-in-Retrograde-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Moons-in-Retrograde-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Based in Flensburg, North Germany, Moons in Retrograde is the Nightmare Trip-Pop \/ Dark Alt-Electro Hyperpop project of US-born musician and multimedia performance artist, Kara Kuckoo. Premiering exclusively with Orkus! Magazin, the new single and video, \u2018The Rotten Tree (Fresh Rot)\u2019, was just released on Monday, 20 October 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018The Rotten Tree\u2019 is the second video-single lifted from the project\u2019s forthcoming debut album, The Third Side of the Coin, but as Kara explains, the song had an earlier incarnation as Moons in Retrograde\u2019s first release, back in November 2022:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Rotten Tree was my debut song for Moons in Retrograde, and was the first song I have ever created and composed entirely solo. I hadn\u2019t really written any music in over a decade at the time, because I didn\u2019t have any experience as a solo musician, and this false belief kept me stuck for years. When I finally sat down and started to create, it was like an upheaval of buried emotions with waves of sadness, anger and regret spilling out of me. I remembered the imaginative and passionate child that I was, and looked at who I had become today, and I felt so much regret. I wished desperately that I could go back and try it again, I could do\u00a0it better if I had another chance, but I knew this wasn\u2019t true. When I looked\u00a0in reverse, I could see the series of events that were out of my control that\u00a0led to decisions that shaped every aspect of my life in the present moment. I\u00a0then only wanted to preserve and protect the little child within me who really stood no chance against the evils of the world\u2026 Since then, it remains something like a treasure to me, a baby that I created from my own rot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"nv-iframe-embed\"><iframe title=\"The Rotten Tree (Fresh Rot) - Official Music Video\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h8ixJl7S5Zo?start=2&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Kara spent almost nine months learning to write and record everything completely solo, having focused solely on singing and writing lyrics with previous bands In Winter and Azure Noir. While developing \u2018The Rotten Tree\u2019, Kara was also working on body-painting videos, which in turn led to the creation of The Rotten Tree persona and video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was a dark, androgynous and ugly creature which perfectly fit the content for the song. I shared this with LUX, a friend of mine who is a video creator, and she immediately fell in love with the song and the look and at that point she took direction of the video. I called on another friend who works in the theatre and he let me borrow this big, creepy tree costume from the theatre warehouse. LUX and I shot video in several locations: the attic of an abandoned building in Flensburg; in a field between Germany and Denmark; and in my art studio. The result is a dark journey through the reversed reflections of life and a return to loss of innocence. I especially love the ending where the tree and the child struggle, but the child breaks free and runs off into the darkness of the field. This gives a sense of hope but suggests that more darkness is lurking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the original 2022 version of the song had been released, Kara began working with French engineer and producer, Etienne Pelosoff, who has produced, mixed and mastered every new song from Moons in Retrograde ever since. After deciding to include \u2018The Rotten Tree\u2019 on the forthcoming album, The Third Side of the Coin, the track was also given a production overhaul by Etienne, resulting in the current \u2018Fresh Rot\u2019 version. Kara continues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI knew I had to let go and trust that Etienne would preserve its essence while elevating the song to a level which matched the other songs on the album. Etienne did not disappoint, and the result is a song and music video that gave me goosebumps. Etienne and LUX perfectly rendered the emotions at the core of the song with sounds and images that alchemized its essence into the dark gem it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The Rotten Tree (Fresh Rot)\u2019, the new single and video from Moons in Retrograde, is out now: streaming from Spotify and all the usual outlets, and as a digital download from Bandcamp with all presales for Third Side of the Coin. The debut album is scheduled for release on 25 November 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KARA-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16744\" style=\"width:475px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KARA-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KARA-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KARA-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KARA-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/KARA.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Find \/ follow Moons in Retrograde:<br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moonsinretrograde.com\">www.moonsinretrograde.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Based in Flensburg, North Germany, Moons in Retrograde is the Nightmare Trip-Pop \/ Dark Alt-Electro Hyperpop project of US-born musician and multimedia performance artist, Kara Kuckoo. Premiering exclusively with Orkus! Magazin, the new single and video, \u2018The Rotten Tree (Fresh Rot)\u2019, was just released on Monday, 20 October 2025. \u2018The Rotten Tree\u2019 is the second&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/?p=16742\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Germany\u2019s Moons in Retrograde exhumes Fresh Rot for reworking of debut video-single, \u2018The Rotten Tree<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16745,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16742\/revisions\/16745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mkultramagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}