Star Moles Sign To Dead Oceans Announce ‘Highway to Hell’ Vinyl, Release New Song “Born Again”

Star Moles—the Philadelphia-based project of Emily Moales—announces her signing to Dead Oceans, who will release her new album, Highway to Hell, on vinyl for the first time on December 4th. In conjunction with today’s signing announcement, Star Moles releases a new single/video, “Born Again,” and announces a January 2027 headline tour.

Star Moles’ transcendent Highway to Hell is a major statement of intent, signaling the arrival of a singular talent, primed for a breakthrough. Produced by frequent collaborator Kevin Basko (Rubber Band Gun) and featuring contributions from members of Emily and Kevin’s Historic NJ Recordings creative collective, including Sam Sullivan (guitar) and Jem Seidel (drums), Highway to Hell features “psychedelic-of-center bedroom pop songs” (Pitchfork) with “lines that jump out at you, melodies that stick with you, and the perfect balance between comforting familiarity and exciting newness” (Brooklyn Vegan). Paste, in declaring Star Moles a “Best of What’s Next” artist, writes that “Highway to Hell luxuriates in its own ennui . . . monotony, under Moales’ pen, is full of miracles and false starts.”

Today’s “Born Again” finds Moales working once again with Basko, who mixed and recorded the song at his Historic New Jersey studio. Reflecting on the track, she says, “The thing about writing something that’s true is that it basically can’t be narrative. If you’re angry or sad or in love, the feeling itself is an exaggeration. Trying to tell the truth in a song by saying ‘here’s what happened’ isn’t satisfying to me. ‘Born Again’ is a painting of real frustration, and the best way I can express that feeling is with a strong voice and words that mythologize. I wouldn’t say I’m religious, but I think sometimes my emotions are.” The song is accompanied by a music video shot entirely in South Philly and directed by Lucky Marvel.

Since she first laid sound to digital tape in 2017, Emily Moales—a New Hampshire ex-pat reborn and perfected in Philadelphia—has been doing what any great artist should be doing: making art, refining her craft, and finding her voice at her own pace and in relative anonymity. Over those years, she’s explored many versions of herself. Her previous releases (seven full-length LPs, multiple EPs, and countless singles) were often fantastical and conceptual in nature, taking inspiration from literature and mythology. It was a necessary escapism for herself as a teenager in sleepy New England, and as a young adult amid the dull dread of a global pandemic.

She’s now 27, and still doesn’t get out that much, but these days, she doesn’t feel the need to reach that far away for inspiration. Moales has traded in high-concept for high impact. She finds herself drawn to making music that sounds like the music she loves and singing about her life in beautiful Philadelphia. She also remains rooted in our current world historic moment, touching on topics like religious fanaticism, environmental collapse, and the unabashed ascent of fascism in America. 

Following a performance at Durham, North Carolina’s Good Moon Festival this Friday, Star Moles supports Westside Cowboy in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.. Next month, she opens for This Is Lorelei at Warsaw in Brooklyn. Her January headlining tour includes dates in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Brooklyn, and D.C.. Following that, she joins Way Dynamic on the East Coast leg of his North American tour in March and performs at Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival in April. A complete list of dates is below.