PREMIERE | Corvair, "Moon Was a Bowl"
Between the earth and the ceiling-less sky with Corvair; photographed by Megan Brown.
Our universes have grown deeper into considerations and trajectories of an increased existential nature as of late. Beneath the luminous spectrums of the lunar and solar glow we are all re-imagining, re-envisioning and rebuilding the lives we want to live. Reconciling with the whirlwinds of the weird and the reckless courses of nature and other assorted notes of historical materialism — we redefine our collective purposes and pursuits. From watching the world for a moment in time standing almost completely still under the auspices of the fiery sun, the repair and splendor for all living things are rejuvenated by the moon's beams of serenity and restoration.
Evoking this spirit is Portland, Oregon duo Corvair on the midnight mood board pop fantasia “Moon Was a Bowl”. Heather Larimer (of Eux Autres) and Brian Naubert (of Pop Sickle, The Service Providers, Ruston Mire, Tube Top) are joined by the percussion talents Mike Musburger (of Fastbacks, The Posies) on their new album Bound to Be that breaks through the madness of the world and into an exuberant and actualized place of creative pop fusions of anachronistic undergrounds. Corvair mines the songwriter album rock of stadium stage stackers from the 70s and imbues it with experimentation that imagines purse lipped power pop riding the starlit roads of the astral plane to parts unknown in the dead of night and into the early morning hours.
Corvair conjures up the sentiments and thought streams of restless nights. Insomniac evenings spent tossing and turning, wrestling with unanswered questions and all the things that feel out of reach when the world feels beyond the extents of grasp and control. The illusions of life and shadows of the past are reflected upon in moody and motorik verses that wade through the rhythm river tributaries and bask in the elusive presence of the moon's majesty, shape and ubiquitous might. The collective anxiety from our contemporary eras are expressed in cryptic codes and mythologies, spilled out in song as the electric human made light of earth seeks to connect with the lunar sphere for a sense of solace. Just as the duo incorporates the echoing loudspeaker found sounds on the track; their visuals blend images from their trip to Burma with bright moonlit from a PNE nocturne at home in Portland that revels in all the modern mystic musings that keep us up at night.
Covair vocalist Heather Larimer expressed the following on the making of “Moon Was a Bowl”:
We wanted to make something that had thrummy underpinnings and swirling emotion but then we floated a Rumors-style wall of harmonies over the chorus. It’s an unusual combination of AM-radio pop and something more dark and psychedelic.
Guitarist /vocalist Brian Naubert provided further insights on the song:
The evolution of the song has been slow. We actually recorded it for album #1 and sat with it for a long time, then re-recorded it with Mike Musburger (Fastbacks) to make it more percussive and unsettling. It’s now one of my favorite songs in our catalog.
Heather & Brian of Covair; press photo courtesy of Megan Brown.
Covair shares reflections on the self directed, shot and edited visuals:
We created the video out of our personal video footage from a trip to Burma. We had written the lyrics for the song while we were there, in an eerie port town called Myeik where we stumbled upon a huge full moon festival. The air was thick with incense and there was constant music or recitations over loudspeakers. We incorporated a lot of ambient noise from the trip into the recorded version of the song, so we decided to bring the footage into its video as well. We augmented that Burma footage with a shoot in Portland a few weeks ago during an unusually bright full moon, which seemed auspicious.
Corvair’s album Bound to Be will be available June 23 via Paper Walls and Where It’s At Is Where You Are.
