Corey Gulkin to Release 'Half Moon' on Friday

With Half Moon, Corey Gulkin takes a confident leap into the thick of emotional transformation, locking eyes with the unknown.

Written with the specific intention of channeling queer heartbreak, love, and rage, Half Moon sees Corey shedding preconceptions with a steely confidence that spares no tenderness. Half Moon is out this Friday, October 6th.

Half Moon follow's Corey's 2018 full-length All The Things I'll Forget, which chronicled an abusive relationship with nuanced insight, providing an artistic release that allowed them to approach their next project with a renewed sense of possibility.

Emerging from the world of folk music, Corey drew attention early in their career as the 2013 laureate of the John Lennon Songwriting Grand Prize. Their 2016 EP The Wharf was nominated for a GAMIQ award for Folk EP of the Year, and they've consistently landed in the top 5 of CultMTL's fan-voted list for Best Montreal Singer-Songwriter. Across 250+ live shows, Corey has shared stages with artists like Waxahatchee, The Weather Station, and Marissa Nadler.

With Corey's tenacity and vulnerability at the forefront, Half Moon revels in this new territory. Longtime collaborator and bandmate Sam Gleason, now in the producer seat, draws on a lively palate spanning lounge rock, art rock, psych rock, and straight-up rock and roll. Gleason balances Corey's burning declarations with precise sonic touches, highlighting their many twists and turns. 

 “Faceless Woman” finds Corey's evil capitalist alter-ego thrashing through a disorienting sequence of ugly feelings, marked by snakes-and-ladders guitar and bass interplay, distorted vocal interludes, and a late-breaking key change that's almost sickly sweet. Standout track “Raya” opens gently, providing a moment of steady footing before unleashing pure catharsis, its searing guitar illuminating the alluring swagger of Corey's lyrics.

The love-struck harp spirals of “Breaking the Distance” channel the challenge of forging new forms of intimacy that reflect the desires of the actual people involved rather than a set of restrictive expectations. The emotional urgency of refusing constrictive models of being and relating is threaded throughout Half Moon, coming to a potent point with “Sister”.

Over chord progressions that cascade with tension, Corey picks apart the constraints of womanhood, acknowledging its role in shaping their personhood right alongside their anger at its suffocating effects.

As their songs shape-shift from seducing, to confronting, to comforting, and even to slinging barbs, Corey's fire-eyed clarity remains the undeniable constant. It's the anchor that lets Half Moon delve into the emotions we tend to hide from: competitiveness, angsty love, icky embarrassment–dancing on the edge between euphoria and disaster.

For all Half Moon's sparkling turmoil, penultimate track “Thirty-One” finds them hinting at hard-won peace: “I'm not hurtling towards anything/For the first time.” Hold Half Moon's unflinching gaze all the way through, and you might be surprised at what you find.

Half Moon is out on October 6th 2023.

Photo Credit: Stacy Lee

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