Dark multimedia artist Kara Kuckoo launches Moons in Retrograde debut ‘The Third Side of the Coin’
Kara Kuckoo (Moons in Retrograde) (Photo by Tilman Köneke)
Based in Flensburg in northern Germany, dark alternative / nightmare trip-pop project Moons in Retrograde has released its debut full-length album “The Third Side of the Coin” via Retrograde Music. The project is the solo vehicle of US-born musician and multimedia performance artist Kara Kuckoo, who describes the sound of the project as dark alt-pop, gothic-leaning electronic rock and dark alt-electro hyperpop.
The full length is here and there being referred to as a double EP because “The Third Side of the Coin” is split into two complementary halves: “Anima” and “Animus”. On the Anima side, Kuckoo presents “Mirror Obscura”, “The Shadow Dance”, “Eternalgia”, “Rust” and “The Illusion”; Animus collects “The Edge of Entropy”, “The Rotten Tree {Fresh Rot}”, “Taxidermy Mouse”, “Biological” and a closing remix “The Rotten Tree – Electrosoff Remix”. Kuckoo says that the album “explores the dualistic structure of the universe by treating Anima and Animus as two faces of a polarized world, with the third side emerging when that duality dissolves and the listener confronts their own reflection in the metaphorical coin.”
Performing as Moons in Retrograde since 2022, Kuckoo combines music with theatrical multimedia installation work, using costuming, body-paint, staging, dance and film. She cites influences that range from Heilung and IAMX to Nine Inch Nails and The Birthday Massacre, and describes the project as a vehicle for “digging up and reflecting on buried emotions” and examining the tension between universal chaos, the violence of life and the desire to bridge widening social polarisation.
The album includes the video singles “Mirror Obscura” and “The Rotten Tree”, which introduced the “Third Side of the Coin” concept through a series of visually dense, ritualistic clips released ahead of the album.
“The Third Side of the Coin” is available now as a digital album and as a limited 12″ white vinyl edition with full-colour sleeve and inner sleeve via Bandcamp and the artist’s online store, with streaming access on Spotify and other digital platforms. The vinyl edition is limited to 100 copies and includes high-resolution digital download; current orders are subject to a temporary shipping delay at the manufacturing stage.
About Moons in Retrograde
Moons in Retrograde is a dark alternative / nightmare trip-pop solo project created by American-born musician and multimedia artist Kara Kuckoo. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Kuckoo emerged in the US dark alternative scene with the electro-industrial rock band In Winter, active from the early 2000s and known for the 2005 album “Murmur”. After leaving In Winter in 2006, she toured as a backing vocalist in the US before relocating to Las Vegas, where she co-founded the dark trip-hop / ambient / downtempo duo Azure Noir with MC and producer Kielen King in 2007. Azure Noir operated until Kuckoo’s move to Germany in 2009, continuing occasional studio collaborations in the following years.
Now based in Flensburg, Germany, Kuckoo launched the project as a solo venture that integrates dark electronic music with body-paint, performance art and installation work. Early Moons in Retrograde releases arrived digitally, starting with the single “The Rotten Tree” in 2022, followed by “The Voices”, “Haunted” and the remix “The Voices – Electrosoff Remix” in 2023, and the EP “Cardboard Coffins”. In 2024 she issued the EP “Lamented Dreams”, and in 2025 the single “Jeepers Creepers” preceded the lead album track “Mirror Obscura”.
Kuckoo currently records as Moons in Retrograde with production, mixing and mastering handled by Etienne Pelosoff Studio, while visual collaborators include photographers such as Tilman Köneke and video directors working on the project’s filmic material.
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