PREMIERE Brightmoon, 'First Light'

Curbside street hangs within the Loveless frame with Billy & Becca of Brightmoon; photographed by Robbbie Jeffers.

Artists that are deeply invested on their creative paths more often than not are blind to the destination. The journey begins according to the rudimentary impetus that springs to life as the process runs through various courses and sessions where the studios and salons become incubation temples to the craft. Feelings formed from the wells of collected observances find their way through the subterranean channels to the surface, where they convey the sublime for others to hear, see, sense, and experience as a shared event. These materializations transform items of the abstract into entities that are more concrete, and yet oddly ephemeral as if ordained from sort of metaphysical plane.

These curious corridors that connect inward emotions and perspectives to the outer exterior are found on Brightmoon’s sound cycle First Light, courtesy of UK imprint Noon Records. The collaboration of Long Beach-based industry veteran couple Becca Mohler and Billy Mohler share an EP made while juggling the daily demands of active lives in progress. Between sharing stages and working with the biggest names on the touring circuits, to raising a family together—the Mohlers combine their forces to create textural guitar gleaming poetics sung, and wrung, direct from the heart and soul.

First Light shines with bright beams of confessionals, candid conversations and inner monologues exhibited as privy views into the interior chambers of feelings, fears, and fascinations. The opening title track sets a tone that is reminiscent of your favorite 90s dream wavers draped in baggy garb with the just rolled out of bag-couture aesthetic. Like unreleased tracks from Spooky, Split, and so on; Brightmoon casts lunar light upon the expanses of the human experience that feel familiar and take flight to far away places of revelatory bliss.

Becca and Billy mine the personal valley patches that span the extents of the spirit, the mind, the heart, and the whole of one's being on songs like "Terrified". Brightmoon explore areas of insecurities, grappling with the parts of ourselves that look for ways to find a sort of safety and sanity that is found from within. The duo hold a mirror to the inherent messiness of the human condition, picking up the pieces from the types of thinking where we scatter all the facets of ourselves onto the floor, much like a petulant child taking all of their toys out of a wooden chest. "Almost Tragic" takes apart the continuum and conflicts of pleasure and pain that surround the subject of love: what it is, what it does, what it means for the individual, what it means for all the involved parties, and the curious ways in which we are all affected by these sometimes mysterious and inexplicable forces.

Brightmoon’s (from left), Billy & Becca Mohler keeping the DIY 90s dream alive in the tyrannical 2020s; photographed by Robbie Jeffers.

Switching up the frequency signals to Stereolab-esque motorik sequencing systems, "Every Move You Make" bolts ahead with passion, purpose, and reason. The rhythms and chords rock the concepts of self that run with a vigorous splendor where material and corporeal constructs become transcendent. First Light concerns itself with the dichotomies of the celestial and ethereal aspirational atmospheres and their grounding opposites that are centered around the human condition and its shortcomings. The concluding track "I Falter" contends with the notion of falling short of goals and dreams, a sobering swan song that straddles the material and the infinite; where one foot is firmly planted on earth and the other stretching in a kick toward to the stratospheres of the limitless skies.

Brightmoon’s Becca & Billy basking in the orange cream lens; photographed by Robbie Jeffers.

Becca & Billy Mohler shared the following reflections on First Light:

This EP came together over a relatively short stretch of time. A lot of these songs started as rough, abstract demos with just guitar and vocals before slowly taking shape and evolving in the studio. Lyrically, there are a few overlapping themes that kept replaying in my mind throughout the writing process, and I think that naturally tied the songs together in a way we did not really plan for.

About the hanging vines and gracious gardens with Brightmoon’s Billy & Becca; photographed by Robbie Jeffers.

Once we got deeper into recording, the sound of the songs became much thicker and more intricate than they originally were. A lot of that came from experimenting and letting the songs evolve naturally instead of trying to force them into something specific. It was really fun going into this with absolutely no expectations and just creating something that genuinely felt exciting and meaningful to us.

Brightmoon’s First Light EP arrives everywhere May 22 via Noon Records.