Dark eyes. Half Moon Run

In the last issue of 'Oor', the magazine spoke highly of Dark eyes, an album that was spun in overtime in the editorial rooms of the magazine. Checking it out I found that it was in the home for two months already. I just hadn't come round to listening it seems. This changed after the first spin.

The album starts with 'Full circle'. A well hidden one note keyboard sound in the back over which an acoustic guitar motif starts playing. Mystical, slightly melancholy is the prevailing mood. Like early morning mist over a lake or pasture, through which the rising sun tries to find its way. It is only a few phrases into the song that a trumpcard is played by Half Moon Run: a beautiful harmony voice joins lead singer Devon Portielje. Adding to the atmosphere. A lead guitar Coldplay style or U2 without the extreme delay put on. Not so much solos as guitar soundscapes are played, that fill out to the song as the drums and piano do. After my first listenings on the audio system I could have sworn that Dark eyes was a drumless album. This is the impact the songs had on me. It is all but, as I found out listening closer with earphones on. If you listen to 'Full circle' and aren't mesmerised directly, you can stop listening to Dark eyes.

Half Moon Run is another band coming to the world from Montreal. Slowly but surely Montreal is putting itself on the map as an important pop and rock city. Reading the Wikipedia lemma for the band, we need to categorise Half Moon Run in the so called new folkrock of the moment. Surprising, I find, as I would not have categorised the band under that moniker. A band like Midlake comes to mind to me, as the Coldplay of 2001 does. Travis is another band I can think of and Monster Cat, although chances may be slim that Half Moon Run has heard this Singaporese band. All bands that combine pop and rock with a dreamlike and vulnerable quality. Half Moon Run does not have the upbeat optimism that many of the songs of The Lumineers et al have, the effects in the music that make festival goers all jump at the same time. The thought of Half Moon Run playing in a venue like Paradiso already makes me despair the talk in the fore and background there. Come to the Q-Bus guys. It's small, pays bad, but people really listen to you there.

The last comparison I'd like to make is with Radiohead. No matter how acoustic 'Give up' is, the rhythm, vocal style and guitar pattern are totally Oxford's finest. For the rest Half Moon Run is itself. It manages to combine a few elements that make listening to Dark eyes as a whole a more than pleasant experience. Portielje and his colleagues Dylan Phillips, Colin Molander and Isaac Symonds created an atmosphere in which delicate songs are presented with intricate playing and great harmonising. Even if Half Moon Run has not completely found its own voice yet, the quality on Dark eyes is so high that I'm confident that it will develop towards its own voice. So let me end with this conclusion: great album and a fantastic debut.

Wo.

You an listen to 'Full circle' here.