New Band

Blurb: Mt. Moon is a band that might be worth checking out.

Section: Campus News
9/12/08

By Jesse Meunier
Critic Staff

During the spring and summer of 2008, in the wilds outside of Portland, Maine, a band dubbed Mt. Moon was conceived, born, and lived a life full of gleeful frolicking.
Coupling beautiful harmonies and folky footstomping with the dreamy aesthetics of shoegaze and indie pop,, the seven person group manages to create music that is absolutely haunting, and simultaneously full of joy and sorrow. Formed from the remnants of the noise band, 1800’s Sea Monster, the group traded in the performance art, sonic sludge, and primal intensity of their last endeavor for sophisticated songwriting and folk instrumentation.
The band manages to couple diverse influences ranging from Leonard Cohen, to Neutral Milk Hotel’s fuzz folk, to the melodic sonic haze of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, into a dense amalgam that is best described as “dream folk.” Songwriter Jakob Battick likes to describe it more creatively: "‘Think of it as if some big old moths grabbed acoustic instruments, met in the big field out back, grew some keyboards on trees, waited until the stars came out and then started to decorate the whole forest in songs.’ That, my friends, is the sound of Mt. Moon.”
“Mt. Moon was built upon the work of myself and Patric as songwriters. We'd play the main guitar parts, sing lead vocals, and pick up random other various instrumental roles when needed; banjo and mandolin being two that come immediately to mind. Beyond that, the backing players were Ryan Higgins (bass, ukulele), Zach Brown (trumpet, xylophone, organ), Mike Wellington (viola), Michelle Dempsey (Violin), and Tim Cunningham (electric guitar,)” says Battick.
Their latest work, A Burial In Seven Births, is easily their most polished and accessible to date, composed primarily of previous recordings that were re-written and reconstituted from lo-fi folk songs into more complex and carefully orchestrated affairs. “So many times before in the past we'd just recorded records sloppily, with hiss and mistakes and little attention paid to really developing every aspect of the sound, so this time we made a conscious decision to really be perfectionists. It's music for hazy summer days where the sun washes everything out, where insects are on the breeze, and the trees dance back and forth half-asleep. ” says Battick. Burial may never touch a pop chart or achieve any mainstream success, but it is nonetheless a brilliant underground album that true music lovers will come to appreciate.
All things however, must come to an end, and Mt. Moon is no exception. Their death was as carefully orchestrated as their birth. “As far as future plans are concerned, Mt. Moon itself has self destructed exactly as planned. The whole thing was just a summer project, something to keep my mind off the absolutely dead art/music/fun scene in Bangor. …There are no places for bands to play (here), and few honest people making legitimately interesting music for the right reasons. So, we decided to start our own thing to keep ourselves busy and creative and honest.” Despite the end of one of his more successful projects, Battick looks optimistically to the future: “As of right now, this would appear to be my life goal; to become the best mouthpiece, the best illuminator, and the best illustrator of the great American folk wilderness that I could possibly become.”
Mt. Moon’s latest album, as well as their previous works can be downloaded for free through links on their Myspace page: www.myspace.com/mtmoontheband