Pat Moon
Introducing Pat Moon; photographed by Kyle J. Reigle.
Portland along with it’s slightly northern cousin Seattle continue to keep the northwest lit with some of the greatest icons of rising DIY influence & importance. From the landscapes of electronic bedroom button pushers, closet studio canters, family bands, sister groups, brother groups, three pieces, four pieces, collectives, cults, etc; we are pleased to introduce the latest chapter of solo organic electronic artifices with Pat Moon, who just released the mesmerizing gothic chamber haunt of Don’t Hide From the Light. The solo vehicle of Track and Field Records operator (the imprint of which this record was released on ) & Cemeteries band member Kate Davis, the tenebrous world of cryptic-crystal glowing audio graces that flickers like the candle lit glow of a cathedral, to the ambiance heard & felt throughout such a sanctuary of solemnity.
Don’t Hide From the Light from Pat Moon enjoys something that exist outside of the darkwave tags or “Portlandia” conventions & stereotypes. This is the album that inspires music writers to thumb through their Zola Jesus records, their Siouxsie collections, Chelsea Wolfe releases, looking for comparative studies paradigms that fall into the reasoning of, what Kate Bush imagined pop music would sound like in 2016 all along, or something of that ilk. Pat Moon’s debut album is the sort of thing that will definitely grab the attention of the Sacred Bones/ DAIS / Cleopatra Records / Tri Angle fan crowds from the very beginning with the empathetic expressions made with understated percussion on “Feel You”. From here Davis turns the ignition key to switch on the Pat Moon engine-machine to full RPMs with the echo laden pagan-prayer-pop heard on “Show Me a Sign”, as the synths signal signs of shifts like the cycles of seasons that spin like the spindle of an electric zoetrope. These motifs carry on through the subtle choral pop on the specter song of “I See You” that presents Pat Moon as the omniscient narrator, where the listener is then brought to wade in the soothing baptismal sea on “Into the Water”. The ceremony of communion continues forth on the intimate statement, “Love Me As I Am”, moving from the black light glow of “Dark Light”, before congregating at the dinner table of perpetual consciousness on the finale, “Enter My Mind / All I Know is Now”. Pat Moon provides a gateway entrance that gives glimpses of the exterior world we all inhabit from a inner perspective that sees the world through a lens that describes the inward responses to our own shared society. Kate Davis shared with us the following preface that introduced us to the world of Pat Moon proper:
Written between June 2015-May 2016 in Portland using mainly analog synths and drum machines, the songs were written as a the songs were written as a necessary way to communicate and analyze constant inner thoughts, fears, and anxieties. In each song I address myself in one way or another, attempting to break unwanted thoughts and come closer to finding confidence and self-love. Though playing music has always served as the primary way of connecting to myself, I’ve finally started to become more comfortable sharing that part of myself with others.
Pat Moon’s album Don’t Hide From the Light is available now from Track and Field Records.
