One-third of MUNA is running late. “We’ll do what we can without her,” jokes Naomi McPherson with fellow guitarist Josette Maskin. “And when Katie gets here, she can say something smart.” As if on cue, lead singer Katie Gavin strolls in, a supernova of red hair – on its fifth day of dry shampoo, she later tells me – that’s hard to miss in the dim lighting of The Hoxton hotel lobby. The three beam at each other: a look of love that feels more reminiscent of long-lost pals than it is friends who have spent the better part of the past 10 years joined at the hip, making hit albums and playing sold-out shows around the world.
MUNA never tire of one another. And if their growing popularity is anything to go by, neither do listeners. In the years since releasing 2017’s shimmering synth-pop debut About U, MUNA have become a benchmark for queer music, pop music and just music full stop. Their sound – bubbly, spiky and soft all at once – calls to mind Robyn in the way it summons affairs of the heart to the dance floor. Often, a sapphic energy will wrap around a MUNA track like a hot pink feather boa pulling you closer. It’s certainly true of their biggest song to date, “Silk Chiffon”. Last year’s hit collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers is the closest that MUNA have been to infiltrating the mainstream. Tours alongside Harry Styles, Kacey Musgraves, and King Princess have come close, too. Now, the group are gearing up to release MUNA, their third full-length album and first since getting dropped by their label and subsequently being signed to Bridgers’ indie imprint Saddest Factory Records.
