Band ready for its day in the sun
B.C.-bred Montreal folk-rock quartet hits the next level with second album
Half Moon Run Tuesday, 8 p.m. | Imperial
Tickets: Sold out
There’s nothing like a trip to California to reinvigorate the songwriting senses.
For decades, pop paeans have been written about the sunny state, and that history is what inspired the members of Half Moon Run to trek west from their homes in Montreal when prepping for their second album, Sun Leads Me On.
The vacation was part adventure, part songwriting sojourn.
“We went there to have some fun and get some inspiration,” singer-guitarist Conner Molander said recently. “It worked perfectly. Living in a cold city like Montreal, it’s more of neurotic headspace. It was nice to be wild and free for a little while.”
Half Moon Run had already spent the better part of two years on the road, so it was a little taxing to get right back in a van and drive such a long way, Molander said. The result was worth it, as the group emerged with a set of songs that appear to be taking the group to the next level.
The band recently returned from a European tour that featured multiple sold-out dates. That trend is continuing as Half Moon Run prepares to embark on a cross-Canada run, which follows five sold-out shows in Montreal.
“The Montreal shows, that was a real thrill,” Molander said. “We felt a lot of love.”
It isn’t the only city with a fondness for the group. Every date on the quartet’s upcoming tour, which begins Monday at Sugar in Victoria and continues Tuesday at Imperial in Vancouver, has sold out in advance. The date at Sugar will be a homecoming of sorts for Molander — a graduate of Highland Secondary in Comox — drummer Dylan Phillips and multi-instrumentalist Isaac Symonds.
They knew each other during their Comox days, but didn’t form a musical relationship until they met up in Montreal. Molander — who played with Symonds’ brother, Duncan, in an early version of the Nanaimo group Bananafish Dance Orchestra — was at McGill University when he crossed paths with Phillips in 2009. Molander said his interest in music overtook his desire to attend psychology classes.
“The reason I chose Montreal to go to university was exactly for that reason — I was hoping I could find my way into some kind of music project.”
Molander and Phillips posted an online ad looking for musicians inspired by Grizzly Bear and Radiohead to form a group. Devon Portielje, a singerguitarist from Ottawa, was among those who responded.
“That’s what Montreal is to a lot of Canada, a hub for wandering souls who want to get involved in some kind of music project, but don’t know how to make it happen,” Molander said. “It’s amazing that way.”
The band’s debut, Dark Eyes, arrived on the indie-folk scene like a shot three years ago. Ben Lovett of Mumford and Sons dubbed them “one of the most important bands debuting an album this year” and signed the group to his label, Communion, for distribution in the U.K.
Half Moon Run toured Europe with Mumford and Sons and North America with Of Monsters and Men. With heightened expectations, the band knew it had to make Sun Leads Me On count, so they enlisted Jim Abbiss, who produced Adele’s hit, Turning Tables.
The album marks a progressive leap forward for the group, losing none of the triple-harmonies that typify their rhythm-based sound. Molander and his bandmates never doubted the new direction, because it comes from a pure place, he said.
“When we were first jamming as a band, everybody had a sense that making money and the longevity of it were not guaranteed. All we could do was do the best musically that we could. We worked really, really hard, jamming for 12 hours in the early days, but we had a lot of luck, too.”
Luck is no longer part of the equation.
Molander, when pushed, is inclined to agree.
“We put in a lot of years struggling to make it. Now, I feel like we’ve earned it.”