Doves

The Doves Sound, Off The Moon

Pink Floyd named their landmark 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, but British indie-rock band Doves have used the light side of the moon for more than just inspiration: they’ve bounced a guitar riff of it and recorded the reflection, like a “cosmic delay pedal.” After Jodrell Bank observatory successfully bounced a vocal recording of astronaut Buzz Aldrin off the moon to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landings, resident astrophysicist Dr. Alastair Gunn had the idea of trying the same with a guitar riff. The big Doves fan contacted the band, who were thrilled by the idea. "He had a load of dials on a box,” guitarist Jez Williams explained to The Observer. “I plugged into it, he just dialed the moon, like you do! And two and half seconds later it [the riff] comes back.” The signal was actually transferred to another nearby telescope, then transmitted to the moon, and the Jodrell Bank telescope picked up the reflection. So what does a moon-delayed riff sound like?“It messes up the signal beyond recognition,” Williams said. “It's pretty wild. We've got a recording of it that we'll definitely use at some stage."