photo credit: Yani Clarke
THE second album is always a perilous journey. We hear it time and again from bands that naturally produce an extraordinary debut, and when the world tours and festivals end and when the dust settles, they find themselves back where they started – in the drawing room. This time though with a whole new burden on their shoulders: pressure.
For Half Moon Run this perilous journey was accompanied with tension, anxiety, confusion and ultimately a desire to soldier on. Following the Californian sun they eventually found the light needed to inspire a follow-up to their impressive first album, and the result is Sun Leads Me On.
“Sun Leads Me On came from a place that felt a little bit like being underwater, but we kept powering through because ultimately we knew it was worth it. We had this beautiful thing, this wonderful chance, but we were also working our way through a lot of darkness, losing lots of friends, struggles at home, losing our sense of home, trying to let the music guide us but having trouble even finding that. There was a lot of strife in it all, but at the same time the sun just kept pulling us forward, and we just kept pushing forward and trying to find beauty in what we do.”
Dylan Phillips
Like gently dipping a toe into water to test the temperature, the album opens ever so gently, probing, searching, and ultimately satisfying. ‘WARMEST REGARDS’ is a welcoming introduction, delicately exemplifying the bands willingness to diversify in both instrumentation and style. On display again is the multi-vocalist sound that worked so well on the first album.
In the years since debut Dark Eyes was released the band have grown into a prolific live band, and this has been carried into the new album. The thumping ‘CONSIDER YOURSELF’ kicks the album into life, raising the tempo and volume. Elements of Jim Abbiss’ touch (Arctic Monkeys, Adele) can be felt strongly hear, as the producer captures the bands huge live energy.
They have said that ‘HANDS IN THE GARDEN’ is the song most closely linked to their trip to California, which was an important catalyst for the making of this album. The song has a feeling of getting over problems, letting the baggage fall away, a feeling of reconciliation and optimism. In many ways it portrays the whole album beautifully. For some who listen to these songs they will find mellowness, for others they will find hope, and others still will find relaxing contemplation. For me the album is a combination of all these emotions, elaborately distributed among the 13 tracks.
The titular track is a monumental vocal performance, that leans on the most minimal of instrumental supports. It’s moody, sombre attitude is forgotten by the time ‘DEVIL MAY CARE’ arrives; an acoustic and folky song with wit as swift and adept as the finger-picking guitar part.
Finally there is the pulsing, eccentric ‘TRUST’, which they claim was thrown together using fragmented pieces and ideas. It definitely flutters the farthest from the bands usual sound, which makes it a strange candidate for being the first single to be released. However, It’s unique and off-track sound really seals the deal on this multi-faceted album.
It’s hard to criticise Sun Leads Me On on any level. It is a progression from their debut in terms of branching out creatively, and it also manages to maintain the passion of Dark Eyes. Big songs like ‘I CAN’T FIGURE OUT WHAT’S GOING ON’ and ‘TRUST’ are rivals to the hugely popular ‘FULL CIRCLE’.
In this sense the band have achieved what they set out to, and have produced a fine second album. Through all their toil they have succeeded and should be proud of the result. Now they can shirk the pressure for some time and go back to being a live band, and for a while put off the next greatest challenge in any bands career; the third album.
Sun Leads Me On will be released on the 23rd October, and the band will be playing Oran Mor in Glasgow on the 31st October 2015. Listen to ‘Trust’ below:
