Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Based in Flensburg, North Germany, Moons in Retrograde is the Nightmare Trip-Pop / Dark Alt-Electro Hyperpop project of US-born musician and multimedia performance artist, Kara Kuckoo. The new Moons in Retrograde single and video ‘Mirror Obscura’, released 5 September 2025, is the first single from the project’s forthcoming album The Third Side of the Coin.
Performing as Moons in Retrograde since 2022, Kara Kuckoo is not only a musician but a theatrical multimedia installation artist, using costuming, staging, body-paint, dance, film and other media to create the dark and unsettling atmosphere of her online videos and unique performances. Citing vast-ranging references to everyone from Heilung, IAMX, NIN, and The Birthday Massacre, Kara says:
“Moons in Retrograde is about digging up and reflecting on buried emotions. Just like the moon, everyone and everything has a dark side and MIR dives into the dualistic nature of the universe and explores the tension of these two opposing forces. The music plays a tug of war between the perfection of universal chaos, the violent nature of life and an idealistic desire to bridge the growing gap in our polarized society. MIR weaves a soundscape which shines a light into the deepest corners of the mind and exposes the truth about the dark side of humanity while simultaneously discovering the core of the human soul.”
In the US, Kara’s previous music projects included prominent dark electro-industrial rock band In Winter, formed in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio in 2003. Quickly becoming local favourites in the dark alternative scene, In Winter opened for The Birthday Massacre, Wednesday 13, The Genitorturers and others, and released one album, Murmur, in 2005, before Kara left the group the following year.
Kara next embarked on the All Hamerican Tour (2006) as a backing vocalist with PIG, before relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada. In Vegas, Kara and MC / producer Kielen King formed the dark trip-hop / ambient / downtempo duo, Azure Noir in 2007. Officially, Azure Noir disbanded in 2009 when Kara moved to Germany. However, Kara and King have continued to collaborate, with singles being released in 2010 and 2012, and murmurs about releasing new music together in the near future.
‘Mirror Obscura’, the new single and video from Moons in Retrograde is out on Friday 5 September 2025, as a digital download from Bandcamp, and streaming from Spotify and all the usual outlets. The forthcoming album, Third Side of the Coin, is scheduled for release in October 2025.
LINKS:
moonsinretrograde.com
Spotify open.spotify.com/intl-es/artist/0EO83U5pVbjZOxjChYA51i?si=IL2JVTcWT3K0Yh7nz3ihCw&nd=1&dlsi=e3002ed9dfbb4fa0
Instagram instagram.com/moons_in_retrograde
YouTube youtube.com/@MoonsInRetrograde
Facebook facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093300065876
VIDEO LINKS:
Moons in Retrograde – ‘Mirror Obscura’: youtube.com/watch?v=fxaEniLvDVY
Moons in Retrograde – ‘The Rotten Tree’ (2022): youtube.com/watch?v=5ZlQHutfwJ4
Based in Flensburg, North Germany, Moons in Retrograde is the Nightmare Trip-Pop / Dark Alt-Electro Hyperpop project of US-born musician and multimedia performance artist, Kara Kuckoo. The new Moons in Retrograde single and video ‘Mirror Obscura’, released 5 September 2025, is the first single from the project’s forthcoming album The Third Side of the Coin.
Performing as Moons in Retrograde since 2022, Kara Kuckoo is not only a musician but a theatrical multimedia installation artist, using costuming, staging, body-paint, dance, film and other media to create the dark and unsettling atmosphere of her online videos and unique performances. Citing vast-ranging references to everyone from Heilung, IAMX, NIN, and The Birthday Massacre, Kara says:
“Moons in Retrograde is about digging up and reflecting on buried emotions. Just like the moon, everyone and everything has a dark side and MIR dives into the dualistic nature of the universe and explores the tension of these two opposing forces. The music plays a tug of war between the perfection of universal chaos, the violent nature of life and an idealistic desire to bridge the growing gap in our polarized society. MIR weaves a soundscape which shines a light into the deepest corners of the mind and exposes the truth about the dark side of humanity while simultaneously discovering the core of the human soul.”
In the US, Kara’s previous music projects included prominent dark electro-industrial rock band In Winter, formed in her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio in 2003. Quickly becoming local favourites in the dark alternative scene, In Winter opened for The Birthday Massacre, Wednesday 13, The Genitorturers and others, and released one album, Murmur, in 2005, before Kara left the group the following year.
Kara next embarked on the All Hamerican Tour (2006) as a backing vocalist with PIG, before relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada. In Vegas, Kara and MC / producer Kielen King formed the dark trip-hop / ambient / downtempo duo, Azure Noir in 2007. Officially, Azure Noir disbanded in 2009 when Kara moved to Germany. However, Kara and King have continued to collaborate, with singles being released in 2010 and 2012, and murmurs about releasing new music together in the near future.
‘Mirror Obscura’, the new single and video from Moons in Retrograde is out on Friday 5 September 2025, as a digital download from Bandcamp, and streaming from Spotify and all the usual outlets. The forthcoming album, Third Side of the Coin, is scheduled for release in October 2025.
LINKS:
moonsinretrograde.com
Spotify open.spotify.com/intl-es/artist/0EO83U5pVbjZOxjChYA51i?si=IL2JVTcWT3K0Yh7nz3ihCw&nd=1&dlsi=e3002ed9dfbb4fa0
Instagram instagram.com/moons_in_retrograde
YouTube youtube.com/@MoonsInRetrograde
Facebook facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093300065876
VIDEO LINKS:
Moons in Retrograde – ‘Mirror Obscura’: youtube.com/watch?v=fxaEniLvDVY
Moons in Retrograde – ‘The Rotten Tree’ (2022): youtube.com/watch?v=5ZlQHutfwJ4
