White Moth Black Butterfly is a British/Indian/American cross-continental

progressive pop Progressive pop is pop music that attempts to break with the genre's standard formula, or an offshoot of the progressive rock genre that was commonly heard on AM radio in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally termed for the early progressive ...

project with members from

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, UK,

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

, India, and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, US. The group consists of

TesseracT In geometry, a tesseract is the four-dimensional analogue of the cube; the tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of six square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of e ...

lead singer Daniel Tompkins,

Skyharbor Skyharbor is an Indian/American progressive metal band with members from New Delhi and Mumbai, India; and Cleveland, Ohio, US. History The band was initially guitarist Keshav Dhar's studio project, before TesseracT vocalist Daniel Tompkins co ...

guitarist Keshav Dhar, as well as

Randy Slaugh Randy Slaugh (born October 3, 1987) is an American music producer and composer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has worked with artists such as Architects, Sleeping With Sirens, Skillet, The Amity Affliction, Periphery, Trace Cyrus, David Arch ...

(keyboards/orchestrations), Jordan Bethany (vocals), and Mac Christensen (drums).

Formation and ''One Thousand Wings'' (2013-2014)

White Moth Black Butterfly initially began as a solo project and experimental creative outlet for singer Daniel Tompkins, who was the frontman for

at the time. After parting ways with TesseracT, he connected with guitarist and producer Keshav Dhar and asked Keshav to help produce and mix the solo tracks he had been working on. He connected with singer/songwriter Jordan Bethany at a local church in the U.K. and asked her to guest on a few songs as well. With the help of Dhar, Bethany and others including Acle Kahney from TesseracT contributing production as well, Tompkins self-released White Moth Black Butterfly's debut album '' One Thousand Wings''.

New lineup, Kscope and ''Atone'' (2015–present)

After the release of ''One Thousand Wings'', Daniel began working on new music with Keshav and again asked singer Jordan Bethany to get involved. The three produced the single "Rising Sun", and decided to have both Dhar and Bethany join as permanent members of the project. The band connected with string arranger and producer Randy Slaugh while working on

's album '' Guiding Lights'' and asked him if he would be interested in getting involved as well to contribute production, songwriting, and real instrumentation, in contrast to the more digital sound of ''One Thousand Wings''. The four of them collaborated entirely long-distance through file sharing to create a 12-track album, including a rework of the previously released single "Rising Sun". In the final production stages of the album, Randy recruited friend and longtime collaborator Mac Christensen to perform live drums on the album. Dan then reached out to Mac to see if he would be interested in joining the project as a full-time member. The band pitched the album they had recorded to Kscope Records, who Daniel was connected with through TesseracT. The label loved what they heard, signed the band, and released White Moth's sophomore album '' Atone'', which was met with critical acclaim. The band has since released music videos for "Tempest" and "Evelyn", in addition to the previously released video for "Rising Sun". The video for "Evelyn" was nominated for 2018's Progressive Music Awards. The band released their third album, '' The Cost of Dreaming,'' on 28 May 2021. Tompkins describes the album as "an outpouring of love and a cry for help". The band has released a video for their single "The Dreamer", from that album.

Musical style and influences

White Moth Black Butterfly has been described as contemporary pop, art pop, alternative, pop rock, experimental, progressive pop, electronica and trip hop. According to lead singer Daniel Tompkins, the band have been influenced by artists like Massive Attack, Enigma, Sigur Ros, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Tool, Dredg and Thrice.

Awards and nominations

, - , 2014 , , '' One Thousand Wings'' , , Progressive Music Award for Limelight category , ,
, - , 2018 , , '' Evelyn'' , , Progressive Music Award for Video of the Year , ,

Members

Daniel Tompkins Daniel D. Tompkins (June 21, 1774 – June 11, 1825) was an American politician. He was the fifth governor of New York from 1807 to 1817, and the sixth vice president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Born in Scarsdale, New York, Tompkins ...

– lead vocals, programming (2013–present) * Jordan Bethany – lead vocals (2013–present) * Keshav Dhar – guitars, programming (2013–present) *

– keyboards, orchestrations, programming (2015–present) * Mac Christensen – drums, percussion (2017–present)

Discography

Albums

* '' One Thousand Wings'' (November 11, 2013) * '' Atone'' (

Kscope Kscope is an independent record label that is part of Snapper Music, and a sister-label of Peaceville. It is dedicated to artists in the progressive rock genre. The label has released albums by Steven Wilson and his projects Porcupine Tree ...

, September 1, 2017) * '' The Cost of Dreaming'' (May 28, 2021)

EPs

* ''Rising Sun'' (Kscope, October 5, 2018)

Singles

* "Certainty" (2013) * "The World Won't Sleep" (2013) * "Omen" (2013) * "Rising Sun" (2014) * "The Serpent" (2017) * "Tempest" (2017) * "Evelyn" (2017) * "An Ocean Away" (2018) * "The Dreamer" (2021)

Videography

* "Certainty" (2013) * "The World Won't Sleep" (2013) * "Omen" (2013) * "Rising Sun" (2014) * "The Serpent" (2017) * "Tempest" (2017) * "Evelyn" (2017) * "Rising Sun (Remix)" (2018) * "An Ocean Away" (2018) * "Atone (Making the Album documentary)" (2018) * "The Dreamer" (2021) * "Soma" (2021)

References

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 2013 2013 establishments in England Musical groups from Nottinghamshire