Music Review: Sun Leads Me On

Half Moon Run, a Canadian indie-folk-pop-electro-psychedelic quartet, released its second album, Sun Leads Me On, Oct. 23. Sun Leads Me On combines simple but powerful lyrics (“I never thought I could be so happy / I’m looking on it from the inside out / given the right of circumstances / it could be safe to say / that darling it’s no crime”) with a complex and brilliant fusion of mandolins, keys, guitars, bass, drums and vocals (“Turn Your Love,” “Sun Leads Me On”). 

As the band was born on Craigslist, its lyrics and melodies are just a part of the quartet’s uniqueness. The history goes like this. In 2009, Dylan Phillips and Conner Molander, two childhood acquaintances born in Comox, British Columbia but living in Montreal, Quebec posted a Craigslist ad looking for a drummer or a bassist who enjoyed Radiohead, Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear. 

Devon Portielje, an Ottawa native who had moved to the other Canadian city, responded that he was interested in joining them. The funny thing about Portielje—he did not play percussion or bass. Instead, he was a guitar player and singer. Phillips and Molander adapted to the new situation and, despite an initial awkward “we’re a band but we barely know how to talk with each other” phase, the group managed to become friends and put together an album in 2012.

After the release of Dark Eyes, the trio of Portielje, Phillips and Molander became a quartet, as Isaac Symonds became a member of the band. The Montreal-based quartet received so many positive critics due to its eclectic pastiche of rhythms that Mumford and Sons picked them to open for their tour around Europe that year, and Of Monsters and Men did the same for their North American summer tour. 

Sun Leads Me On combines simple but powerful lyrics (“I never thought I could be so happy / I’m looking on it from the inside out / given the right of circumstances / it could be safe to say / that darling it’s no crime”) with a complex and brilliant fusion of mandolins, keys, guitars, bass, drums and vocals (“Turn Your Love,” “Sun Leads Me On”). The album opens with a song, “Warmest Regards,” whose protagonist is the tempo—the pace with which guitar, drums and leading voice end up forming a harmonic unity, and concludes with an amalgamation of electronic and psychedelic tones that one would hear as the soundtrack of Portlandia.

In the middle, the listeners will find themselves immersed in a wide spectrum of genres and styles, including chamber pop, beat, progressive rock and post-Britpop. Some critics have emphasized the lack of coherence in the new album compared to Dark Eyes, a detail that is obvious in the non-existing transitions of the compilation, especially at the very beginning. While the second song, “I Can’t Figure Out What’s Going On,” is an extension of the indie vibe of the band’s debut anthology, the following song, “Consider Yourself,” is an homage to the noisiest and darkest Radiohead and then, immediately after, one steps back and falls into the calm atmosphere of “Hands in the Garden” enhanced by the tenderness of harmonicas. The album also has its detractors, and others affirm that these stark contrasts are a formidable wait to take the listener out of their comfort zone.

All the Half Moon Run fans who love the unexpected and have been waiting to witness the continuous evolution of the band should brace themselves, for Sun Leads Me On “is the greatest place you’ll ever see.”