Photo Credit: Marc Kallweit

Park The Van was more than happy to welcome Sacramento’s own Best Move to the family, and there was no better way to celebrate than with new music. However, release plans got shifted around because well, have you been on earth over the past year? Things were a bit…hectic, but now the air has cleared a little and Best Move’s ‘Mirror Image Twins’ is out May 7 – and Kris Anaya is talking about it and more!

Kendra: With songwriting being such a foundation for the band, would you say that is where every song starts – with random lyrics jotted down here and there?

Kris Anaya: When I normally write a song I think of words and chords at the same time. Sometimes, I will write words and then hum the melody. It kind of has always felt better for me to think of the words before a song.

Kendra: Which speaking of, are you the type to keep a notebook handy, or do you find yourself scribbling down lyrics as they come on anything near you?

Kris Anaya: Most of the time I write all my songs on my computer. I normally never have a notebook (I know not very artistic), but I have found it easier to keep most of my songs on my notes app.

Kendra: When you formed in 2019, you didn’t know or expect the following year would involve some surprises. Did the lockdowns and quarantines lift any sort of stress any of you had about pushing out a record that year?

Kris Anaya: The quarantine was weird from a music perspective. I wrote about 12 songs before the pandemic and because of the pandemic the label halted the record (naturally), so to fill that void I wrote about 12 more songs. I then went back into the studio and had a wide range of different tunes to choose from.

Kendra: Like many artists, your 2021 release, ‘Mirror Image Twin’ features a song about the pandemic. Big events in history often have an impact on the art that follows. What do you expect the tone of art, music, and so on will feel like in a pre-COVID world?

Kris Anaya: I’m not sure where I will explore my lyrics in the next batch of songs. I wanted to incorporate more synthesis into the new tunes. I also want to probably write a bit more upbeat songs. The last batch of songs was kind of low-key, and I believe this had to do with the feeling of impending doom because of the pandemic.

Kendra: Aside from the pandemic, this record was inspired by TV and movie soundtracks. With that, if you could take half the record and score a TV show with it, and the other half a movie – which show and film would you choose and why?

Kris Anaya: I wrote about 24 songs and I was able to split a lot of the music into singles, an EP, and an upcoming album. When we wrote the bio, the writing reflected a bit more on the album in terms of being inspired for more tv/music. To me, I don’t know if these EP songs fit into that world. I’m not sure if the EP would reflect a cinematic soundscape, so it would be hard for me to fill them into a show or film. But, if I had to pick a song, I think a guitar loop would fit into an indie movie vibe for sure. To me, it has this dreamy landscape. Probably outside, snow scene? Forest? That sounds nice huh? I love dense fog.

Kendra: It’s getting a little easier with the vaccine rollouts, but it’s still kind of hard to have a definite answer when it comes to future plans given the current state of everything, but as far as what you can control when it comes to your career and creativity – what do you have planned in the coming months for yourself?

Kris Anaya: Well, we recorded a whole live session at the studio where we made the album, so I’m hoping to get that out soon. We also made a music video for “Invisible Sigh,” can’t wait to get that done. Finally, I think we are going to start possibly touring California. The state will be open in June!