Description
Label Review.
2019 album. Rock. Also available on Vinyl.
Our Overview.
Canadian indie rock band Half Moon Run are releasing their luscious new album and their third ‘A Blemish In The Great Light’ yet another atmospheric journey into the Montreal’s group signature songwriting that hearkens back to the time when an album was a collection of songs aiming for a cohesive experience, not a mish-mash of social media-released singles rolled together for the sake of meeting a record label contract clause.
The word everyone comes back to when describing Montreal indie rockers Half Moon Run is “complex” (The Guardian, Exclaim, et al.) Whether they’re billed as dreamy alt pop, bucolic alt-folk, or psychedelic indie rock, the four multi instrumentalists Devon Portielje (vocals, guitar, piano, percussion), Conner Molander (vocals, guitar, keyboard, piano, pedal steel, bass, harmonica), Dylan Phillips (vocals, drums, piano, keyboard), and Isaac Symonds (vocals, drums, mandolin, synth, bass) have built their name on cerebral, acrobatic arrangements and harmonies that lilt prettily till they turn feral.
Vocal harmonies sit atop skittering rhythms, weaving from dark keyboard loops to haunting guitar pop. But don’t be mistaken, HMR is not another sad bastard, mopey indie band. Instead, their songs are imbued with both optimism and lift. While so many bands that walk this path seem content to keep both feet — and eyes — firmly fixed on the ground, Half Moon Run sound more like they’re taxiing for take-off.
Their first album, 'Dark Eyes', placed two A-list singles on BBC Radio 1 and went platinum in Canada, earning them a nod as a Rolling Stone “band to watch.” They followed up with Canadian Gold Record 'Sun Leads Me On' (Glassnote), which had them touring furiously through Europe and North America and got them a Juno nod for Breakthrough Group of the Year in 2016.
‘A Blemish In The Great Light’ was produced by Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes, Beck, Killers) andfeaturing the singles Then Again and Flesh & Blood. “A soaring return from the Montreal four-piece.” - CLASH. “Their immediacy and wide-screened encompassing sound is second to none” - SOS MUSIC.