Toronto’s own ONE HUNDRED MOONS returns with “The Architect”, the latest single from their forthcoming album Black Avalanche—a track that fuses the haunting elegance of shoegaze with the weight of existential reflection. The song unfolds like an act of creation and destruction, capturing the essence of the band’s sound: immersive, unsettling, and achingly beautiful.

From its first notes, “The Architect” sets a tone of dark reverence. A low, resonant bass line pulses beneath drifting guitar textures, gradually giving rise to a sonic landscape that feels vast and cinematic. The track moves with purpose, building momentum through layers of distortion and echo before reaching a cathartic breaking point. When the music suddenly falls away, silence becomes its own statement—a breathless aftermath to the storm that came before.

Beneath the track’s hypnotic surface lies a deeply introspective core. The lyrics probe ideas of personal agency and self-created pressure, capturing the tension between control and chaos. Originally sparked by a stream of consciousness meditation on the absence of divine authority, the song evolved into an exploration of overthinking and the consequences of living entirely within one’s own mental architecture. Retaining the title “The Architect” became symbolic: a declaration that we are both the builders and the prisoners of our own design.

The song’s sound mirrors this internal conflict. Every swelling chord, every whisper of feedback, feels like a structural element in a collapsing cathedral. The band balances dissonance and melody with precision, crafting a piece that’s as emotionally arresting as it is sonically intricate. It’s an experience meant to be felt as much as heard.

With “The Architect”, ONE HUNDRED MOONS continues to blur the boundaries between shoegaze, post-rock, and alt-rock. The group—Collin Young, Jen Vella, Justin Hunt, Matt Laplante, and NJ Borreta—weaves together influences from My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead, and Slowdive while maintaining a distinctly modern voice. Their compositions blend the dreamlike haze of classic shoegaze with the cinematic sweep of post-rock, grounding everything in raw emotional honesty.

What sets ONE HUNDRED MOONS apart is their commitment to atmosphere. They don’t just play songs—they build environments. Their sound feels alive, filled with movement and shadow, and “The Architect” stands as a perfect example of that craft. The track captures both the vastness of introspection and the intimacy of self-confrontation, pulling the listener into an otherworldly space where thought and emotion collide.

The release arrives as the band continues their fall Ontario tour, bringing their expansive sound to stages in Waterloo, Oshawa, Niagara, Toronto, Hamilton, and Windsor. Known for transforming live shows into immersive, multi-sensory experiences, ONE HUNDRED MOONS translates their lush, studio-born textures into walls of sound that surround the audience completely. Each performance feels like a shared emotional voyage—a moment suspended between light and noise.

“The Architect” offers a striking preview of what’s to come on Black Avalanche, an album that delves deeper into the interplay between tension, mood, and melody. If this single is any indication, listeners can expect an ambitious, emotionally charged collection that challenges the boundaries of what shoegaze can be.

With this latest release, ONE HUNDRED MOONS doesn’t just reaffirm their position as one of Toronto’s most exciting emerging acts—they invite us to reconsider the structures we build within ourselves. “The Architect” is more than a song; it’s a mirror held up to the mind, reflecting both the fragility and the strength that come from creating your own world.