SOUNDTRACK: HALF MOON RUN-Live at Massey Hall (December 1, 2016).
I hadn’t heard of Half Moon Run before this show. They are a Canadian band who put out their second album a year or so before this show.
So it’s pretty impressive to have gotten a gig at Massey Hall and to have the crowd be that crazy about you after just two records.
There’s a lot to like about the music–great moody sounds, and spectacular drumming, but there’s also something really “pretty” about the singer that makes me wonder if they are too commercial. Or if I should even care.
The band consists of four guys and they each play a multitude of instruments. Devon Portielje is lead vocalist. He plays guitar and on one particular song a smashing drum. Conner Molander plays keys mostly but also guitar and he sings too. Dylan Phillips is the drummer but he also plays keys and Isaac Symonds plays percussion as well as mandolin guitar and keys.
I love the old-sounding keyboards of “21 Gun Salute.” There’s a latter-period Radiohead vibe on this song with the eerie backing vocals and the ringing guitar. I’m not sure if the guitar solo actually works with the song, though.
“Call Me in the Afternoon” starts with Portielje taking of his shirt (to whoops of course). He has an undershirt on at least. Rather than playing the guitar, he plays a small drum and throws the sticks into the audience. There’s some nice harmonies on this song but again, it’s the drums that are very cool. I also like the unexpected bass line that runs through the song.
“Everybody Wants” is from the newer album. It introduces a resonator guitar which brings a whole new sound ( I thought it was a banjo at first). This is a ballad but it builds slowly over the song with great backing vocals–soaring notes–and then it takes off at the end with some more tremendous drums (I love that one of the drummers (can’t tell them apart) is playing one-handed while paying keys with the other).
“Give Up” is an older song which also has a Radiohead kind of feel in the guitar/piano pattern. It’s a slower moodier song and the strings come out for this song. String are provided by Quatuor Esca: Sarah Martineau, Camille Paquette-Roy, Edith Firzgerald, Amelie Lamontagne.
“Consider Yourself” opens with thumping drums and feedback before shifting to an almost gothy-dancey keyboard melody. It’s cool and even moodier when the piano is added but the chorus is big and brash with a big noisy ending. It’s a pretty great song and sounds quite different from their other ones. It’s on the second album where I guess they diversified their sound more.
“She Wants to Know” opens with staccato note and voices and “Full Circle” has a nice interplay of acoustic guitar and electric lead with more of those thumping drums and the audience is right there to sing the chorus–it was their first single.
It’s interesting that the majority of this show is songs from their first album. Is that editing or did they just want to play their earlier stuff?
I’m going to have to check out their studio recordings to see what they sound like.
[READ: January 25, 2018] “Credit Gone Away”
This is an excerpt from the novel Broken Glass, translated by Helen Stevenson.
This excerpt is listed as a monologue and it is just that–a full-page and a half of unbroken text. I found it more than a little confusing because it seems to be a tirade against a bar. And I assume the bar is called Credit Gone Away (at least something is called that–it’s a weird name for a bar). The Church people opposed the bar right away. Saying it would be the end of Sunday mass, slippery slope until everyone is gong straight to Hell
Then the weekend and bank holiday cuckolds waded in saying that it was Credit Gone Away’s fault that their wives no longer cooked for them. And another group of complaints from ex-alcoholics. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 