The phrase "New Moon Rising" was first revealed as Wolfmother-related in July 2009, when the band's New Moon Rising Tour was announced. As a song, "New Moon Rising" was first revealed as part of Cosmic Egg's track listing following a listening party in the United States in late-July, where it was shown to be positioned third between "California Queen" and "White Feather". When the album's track listing was officially revealed in August, the song was shown to be positioned second - preceded and succeeded by the same tracks - due to the omission of opening track "Back Round". The song received its first radio play on Australian network Triple J on 13 August 2009, described as "a thumping, ripping slice of optimistic future-blues." It will be released as a single on 5 October, followed by the album in the succeeding weeks. The song was uploaded to the band's official MySpace page on 17 August 2009. Canadian radio stationThe Edge revealed, according to an interview with lead vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, that the song "was inspired by some very odd encounters he had after work," quoting him as saying the following: The song was used in an episode of The World's Strictest Parents. The song was also featured in the trailer for Due Date starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis
Style and influences
In a pre-release review of the album, American music magazine Spin offered the following background and description of "New Moon Rising":
"New Moon Rising" was released as a digital download-only single in August 2009 internationally; the specific dates were as follows: 21 August in Ireland; 24 August in Kuwait, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan,Qatar, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, the Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen; 25 August in Australia, Canada, China, Iceland, Portugal, Taiwan and the United States; and 28 August in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Greece, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela. A CD single was also released in Australia, and a 12" picture disc was issued in the UK.