Half Moon Run Inwards & Onwards

Canadian indie rockers Half Moon Run have announced their latest EP "Inwards & Onwards" including feature track "On & On", both released through Glassnote Records. In the 6 song exploration of self-production in the age of lockdown, the band are channelling dreamy soundscapes with raw stripped back energy. 

"Sometimes limitations can provide a platform for productive creativity," notes Devon on behalf of the band. "In this case, the limitations of living in a pandemic prompted us to record and mix all of the music for the first time using only our own abilities. Attempting to keep the process simple and enjoyable, we shied away from over-production and leaned into spontaneity and happy accidents."

"On & On" takes on a jaunty and esoteric exploration, featuring their signature three-part harmonies, the band describes the track as a "contemplation on humanity's place among the stars." An acoustic moment, the band weaves into folk roots, creating a seraphic world of their design.

The EP release comes after its first taste single "How Come My Body" revealed in March 2021, an exhibition of soft melodic vocal layers and masterful slow built percussion, together crafting a tranquil dream-like sonic space.

About "How Come My Body", lead vocalist Devon shares, "I remember feeling confused and uncomfortable as a 20-year-old, and I find myself feeling sympathy for that younger version of myself now. I also feel sympathy and concern for people living through that metamorphosis between adolescence and adulthood in the modern world."

The accompanying video for "On & On" was created by vintage-inspired graphic designer Alex Tomlinson, who also produced the EP artwork. The music video features a neon-lit, futuristic, 'live facial tracking' of the band.

Half Moon Run, are internationally beloved as the Montreal, Mile End born, restless six-armed organism that can swap instruments on a song-by-song basis, with members bounding between guitars, percussion, keyboards, pedal steel, and back again, all while delivering their vocals in perfect three-part harmony and with telepathic ease. B.C natives Conner Molander and Dylan Phillips connected with Ottawa expat Devon Portielje in Montreal a few years after Arcade Fire had put the city on the international indie-rock map, and just before the trio's fellow jam-space tenant, Grimes would usher in a new chapter of Montreal DIY lore.

The trio forged a singular sound that looked beyond Montreal's past and future toward the realm of the timeless. Theirs is a sound that inspires all sorts of colourful, contradictory descriptors"folk music for the modern dark age, art-rock for harmony-pop enthusiasts, rustic indie anthems for neoclassical heads"but no matter what you call it, the physical and emotional responses among listeners are always the same: heartbeats accelerate, goosebumps rise, eye sockets well up. 

Half Moon Run released their debut album, "Dark Eyes" in 2012. That album's pulse-quickening lead single, "Full Circle," galloped up the alternative charts in Canada, a U.S. deal with Glassnote Records landed them in the upper reaches of Billboard's Heatseekers list, while steady BBC airplay lured the group overseas and into the welcoming embrace of Mumford and Sons' Ben Lovett, who signed Half Moon Run to his Communion label in the UK. Then came 2015's "Sun Leads Me On" and 2019's "A Blemish in the Great Light".  

Half Moon Run's meticulous ethic has consistently worked to their advantage, as the group has continued to expand its reach with each release while its sound has blossomed in unexpected ways.