White Moth Black Butterfly initially began as a solo project and experimental creative outlet for singer Daniel Tompkins, who was the frontman for TesseracT at the time. After parting ways with TesseracT, he connected with guitarist and producer Keshav Dhar and asked Keshav to help produce and mix the solo tracks he had been working on. He connected with singer/songwriter Jordan Bethany at a local church in the U.K. and asked her to guest on a few songs as well. With the help of Dhar, Bethany and others including Acle Kahney from TesseracT contributing production as well, Tompkins self-released White Moth Black Butterfly's debut albumOne Thousand Wings.
After the release of One Thousand Wings, Daniel began working on new music with Keshav and again asked singer Jordan Bethany to get involved. The three produced the single Rising Sun, and decided to have both Dhar and Bethany join as permanent members of the project. The band connected with string arranger and producer Randy Slaugh while working on Skyharbor's album Guiding Lights and asked him if he would be interested in getting involved as well to contribute production, songwriting and real instrumentation, in contrast to the more digital sound ofOne Thousand Wings. The four of them collaborated entirely long-distance through file sharing to create a 12-track album, including a rework of the previously released single Rising Sun. In the final production stages of the album, Randy recruited friend and longtime collaborator Mac Christensen to perform live drums on the album. Dan then reached out to Mac to see if he would be interested in joining the project as a full-time member. The band pitched the album they had recorded to Kscope Records, who Daniel was connected with through TesseracT. The label loved what they heard, signed the band, and released White Moth's sophomore album Atone, which was met with critical acclaim. The band has since released music videos for Tempest and Evelyn, in addition to the previously released video for Rising Sun. The video for Evelyn was nominated for 2018's Progressive Music Awards.
Musical style and influences
White Moth Black Butterfly has been described as contemporary pop, art pop, alternative, pop rock, experimental, progressive pop, electronica and trip hop. According to lead singer Daniel Tompkins, the band have been influenced by artists like Massive Attack, Enigma, Sigur Ros, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Tool, Dredg and Thrice.
