Mothlite is Daniel O’Sullivan (born 1 December 1980), a multi-instrumenta… Read Full Bio ↴Mothlite is Daniel O’Sullivan (born 1 December 1980), a multi-instrumentalist/composer from Manchester. He is best known for playing in experimental art-rock bands such as Grumbling Fur, Æthenor, Miasma & The Carousel Of Headless Horses, Miracle, Guapo and Ulver. Mothlite is his solo project, although he is assisted by a loose collective of musicians.

Mothlite's second album ‘Dark Age’ is the 2012 follow-up to 2008’s ‘The Flax Of Reverie’ (Southern Records). Having spent a lot of time recently working as a collaborator in his many other projects, O’Sullivan felt it was time to return to Mothlite to work on something unequivocally personal:

“All the other things are collaborations and there’s a communal interest, but with Mothlite the content is quite personal and to do with me. It’s quite easy to neglect, particularly when you’re in a bit of a shit storm as I was the past couple of years.”

"This is prevalent in the lyrical content, which denotes a catharsis throughout a period of hysteria and emotional turmoil". He describes ‘Dark Age’ as “Dark megalomania, contradictions and paradoxes, and general bleakness”, yet rarely does such subject matter get delivered with the soaring pop aplomb as on the album’s twelve tracks, flitting from sparkle and rumble of ‘The Blood’ to the epic washes of ‘The Underneath’ and beyond.

Dark Age has allowed O’Sullivan to break free from the confines of genre, taking influence from the likes of Tears For Fears and Kate Bush from his parents’ record collection through the industrial and gothic textures of D.A.F., The Cure, Coil and Dead Can Dance to the hardcore punk of his own personal roots. Indeed, O’Sullivan’s use of contradiction within the style of the record is a very deliberate choice: “If it was too bleak, with melancholy overriding the whole thing, then I’d counteract it with a huge chorus or huge hook” O'Sullivan's chief collaborator in Mothlite is Norwegian producer Knut Jonas Sellevold (Elektrofant, King Knut). Arranger, composer and beat-maker of the highest order.

Now Dark Age is done, O’Sullivan is ready to move onto new things. “To be honest, I’m really glad that it’s over,” he says. “I felt like I couldn’t move until I got that out there.” As well as plans for a new Mothlite record, this forward surge includes exploring “ideas and schemes” as to how ‘Dark Age’ will transfer to the road. “Now that the drama has played out and everyone can see what it is, I can almost do a theatrical version of the scenes within. I don’t want to look as though I’m crying down the microphone night after night if we go on tour. I’d rather have a show.”