Half Moon Run Release Anticipated New Album 'Salt'
The album includes three previously released singles, “Alco,” “You Can Let Go” and “Everyone's Moving Out East.”
By: Michael Major Jun. 02, 2023
Montreal's Half Moon Run release their new album, Salt today. They have chosen the song titled “9beat” as the single to bolster the release, a track which features the explosive rhythmic interplay and surging dynamic range that the band has become renowned for.
“For that song alone, Devon went through several hundred different Tascam recordings, mining for lyrical and melodic content,” says Conner Molander. “We've been working on that song for the better part of a decade, and that's true of several songs on this record.”
The trio, Devon Portielje, Conner Molander, and Dylan Phillips have also previewed Salt with three previously released singles, “Alco,” “You Can Let Go” and “Everyone's Moving Out East.”
Half Moon Run’s collaborative power has remained constant and unsuppressed during their twelve years together. Beauty and sadness; harmony and menace; despair and groove - the blending of contrasting moods is a trademark of the band’s writing, and on this record they’ve managed to push their own limits of musical chemistry.
Salt sees them revisiting the site of their bond’s first forging, bringing new light to musical visions they’ve carried with them since the beginning. Equally, the album reaches into the future, featuring songs penned during the pandemic which explore the all-permeating anxieties of the current moment. Digging deeper, there’s evidence of a spiritual quest of sorts at the roots of Salt, which effectively translates into a budding sentiment of hope.
Half Moon Run’s ability to breathe new life into ideas that’ve been with them since the start has been bolstered by the vision of ascendant producer Connor Seidel, with whom the band previously collaborated on the song “Fatal Line” on Seidel’s concept album '1969.' Salt was largely created at Seidel’s Treehouse Studio—an idyllic escape north of Montreal where the band’s sketches had space to grow and take form. Seidel encouraged the band to dive deep into their rich archives. “
While making this record, it felt as if we were boiling down a huge cauldron of musical ideas, trying to reduce it to something elemental. What we were left with was Salt,” notes Conner.
The album’s release has been preceded by the single “You Can Let Go”—which Portielje calls: “a tumultuous, transformative journey through the dark places of the mind towards, hopefully, the light”—as well as by the single “Alco”—a song decorated by elven textures, making expert use of silence and space in its drop-out chorus, showcasing the band at the height of their mastery of refined song-structures.
“A song I wish Bruce Springsteen wrote,” is how Portielje describes the bittersweet folk ballad “Heartbeat” which calls to mind Nebraska’s palpable yearning and unflinching examinations of loneliness. Meanwhile “Gigafire” engages with climate anxiety and environmental destruction, responding to the California wildfires and tragic need for a new term to describe wildfires that stretch over a million acres. A more personal form of destruction is evoked by “Goodbye Cali”—an immersive evocation of the dangers of life on the road.
“While making this record, it felt as if we were boiling down a huge cauldron of musical ideas, trying to reduce it to something elemental. What we were left with was Salt,” says Conner.
Since Half Moon Run’s last album, A Blemish in the Great Light (Glassnote/Universal, 2019), the band's put out three releases—two EPs and a collection of reworked “isolation versions” of older songs. Half Moon Run netted two Juno Awards both for 'Adult Alternative Album of the Year' in 2020 for A Blemish in the Great Light, and again in 2022 for their EP Inwards & Onwards.
In 2021 they were nominated for 'Group of the Year' and also in 2016 for 'Breakthrough Group.' Half Moon run also saw their fourth member, multi-instrumentalist Isaac Symonds, depart the band to move to Western Canada. The remaining trio — Devon Portielje, Conner Molander, and Dylan Phillips —are also the band’s founding trio and the foundation moving forward.
Well known for their captivating live shows, new dates for 2023 are on sale now and take Half Moon Run across North America and to the U.K. + Europe. The band are again partnering with Plus1 and in Canada (including Quebec), 1$ from each ticket sale will go to Global Medic who provides humanitarian assistance to those affected by natural disasters and to refugees and persons displaced by conflict.
They empower the communities they serve by providing immediate aid, training and support. In the USA + Europe, to the Syrian American Medical Society which is a U.S.-based charity that has been actively providing medical care in Syria since 1998. SAMS supports 110 medical facilities and over 3,000 medical personnel. All dates are listed below, with the new Canadian stops are bolded and all ticket avails are noted via the band's website.
HALF MOON RUN – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES 2023
October 24, 2023 @ El Rey Theater, Los Angeles, CA
October 25, 2023 @ August Hall, San Francisco, CA
October 27, 2023 @ Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
October 28, 2023 @ The Crocodile, Seattle, OR
October 29, 2023 @ Spanish Ballroom Tacoma, WA
November 1, 2023 @ Royal Theatre, Victoria, BC
November2, 2023 @ Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC
November 3, 2023 @ Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC
November 5, 2023 @ MacEwan Hall, Calgary, AB
November 7, 2023 @ Coors Event Centre, Saskatoon, SK
November 8, 2023 @ Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, MB
November 10, 2023 @ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis, MN
November 11, 2023 @ Metro, Chicago, IL
November 12, 2023 @ Saint Andrew’s Hall, Detroit, MI
November 14, 2023 @ The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA
November 16, 2023 @ Union Stage, Washington, VA
November 17, 2023 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
November 18, 2023 @ Royale, Boston, MA
November 21, 2023 @ London Music Hall, London, ON
November 23, 2023 @ History, Toronto, ON
November 24, 2023 @ Kingston Grand Theatre, Kingston, ON
November 25, 2023 @ Algonquin Commons Theatre, Ottawa, ON
November 26, 2023 @ Algonquin Commons Theatre, Ottawa, ON
December 13, 2023 @ MTelus, Montreal, QC
December 14, 2023 @ MTelus, Montreal, QC
December 15, 2023 @ Salle Maurice-O’Bready, Sherbrooke, QC
December 17, 2023 @ Théâtre du Palais Municipal, Saguenay, QC
December 18, 2023 @ Grand Théâtre@ Quebec City, QC
Photo credit Jennifer McCord
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