“Stick around to the end”: Quiet as a Mouse on their upcoming singles and sophomore album

Quiet as a Mouse is singer-songwriter Alex Moran. He’s been making music for “almost twenty years now” and is releasing upcoming singles ‘Miss Melody’ and ‘French Bullet Blues’ on  Friday 27 February, with QAAM’s sophomore album Nostalgia is fine…but… coming out on Friday 29 May. 

Moran urges listeners “to stick around to the end”

Alex Moran, who is inspired by a diverse range of songwriters, from John Lennon and Bob Dylan to Nick Cave and Modern Baseball, aims to “write the best songs [ he ] can” and “release them with interesting and fun art”. Situated within the “indie and alternative rock genres”, Moran finds “total happiness” taking his individual work on the “skeleton of the song” and working in collaboration with friends and musicians to “take them into excited and unexpected directions”. This process can be found on these two upcoming singles and the album in its entirety. 

‘Miss Melody’ represents the “poppiest track on the album”, making it the perfect choice for the first single. Moran describes it as “a sad, intimate and romantic song”, aligning with QAAM as a manifestation of Moran’s honesty and maturity. Within the track, Moran demonstrates his ability as a songwriter, with some beautiful lyricism. When listening, the line “Words run dry, Catch them from the tears, The tears in your eyes” stuck out, alongside Moran’s favourite lyric: “You’re a work of art to me, As gentle as a bumblebee”. The first line, “a really lovely and romantic thing to say”, becomes nuanced alongside the second, which presents an interesting dichotomy: “as bumblebees are cute but they also can sting you.” Moran urges listeners “to stick around to the end” as to not miss out “on the unexpected, beautiful and melancholic ending.” 

In tandem, ‘Miss Melody’ and ‘French Bullet Blues’ effectively highlight the range of QAAM

Upon its release, QAAM will also be debuting a MV for ‘Miss Melody’. The visuals were taken during “a holiday” Moran had “in May 2025 in Beijing and Hong Kong.” On this holiday, Moran noted he was able to find “cool and cute artwork” everywhere, even “in the most mundane places”. Therefore, he decided to take “lots of fun images and videos” of which the MV comprises, as they link “to the romantic, wistful and playful” energy on ‘Miss Melody’. More importantly, however, the MV was a product made with love as it was edited together by Moran and his girlfriend!  

Alongside ‘Miss Melody’, QAAM will also be releasing ‘French Bullet Blues’, chosen to pair with ‘Miss Melody’ as it offers “an interesting difference”. ‘French Bullet Blues’ is “a heartbreak rock song with some elements of shoegaze rock” featuring “guitars droning away.” This song, therefore, is “more rough”, and described by Moran as a “harder rock song”. In tandem, ‘Miss Melody’ and ‘French Bullet Blues’ effectively highlight the range of QAAM.  

The project includes “a set of ten songs” which attempt to present diverse aspects of the rock genre

After “eight years since the first album was released”, QAAM are releasing their sophomore album: ‘Nostalgia is fine…but…’. In turn, Moran is excited to show greater maturity, hoping his songwriting has become “more refined”, and seeks to portray what he sounds like at this time in his life. For this album, Moran “worked closely with John Prefontaine”, who produced the album, as well as “Steven Powell”, who plays drums on the album. He also emphasises the importance of collaboration, noting that his friends “Mark and Bicho helped some of the song arrangements come together.” 

The project includes “a set of ten songs” which attempt to present diverse aspects of the rock genre, whilst sounding all connected”. These ten songs, whilst don’t fit a specific narrative, as Moran likes to “keep it pretty simple”, are connected as a “collection”. This choice represents Moran’s preference for “the raw, punk, DIY feelings” and for going with his gut when it comes to his music, singles, and albums. From the tracklist, Moran mentioned – alongside ‘Miss Melody’ – his favourite tracks are ‘1999’, ‘Cocaine Soul’, ‘From… To’ and ‘Peter Pan’. 

With the aforementioned singles being released on Friday 27 February, make sure to tune in, and as urged by Moran: “please dig deeper” and “spend time” with the music.