Q+A with brightmoon
You'll hear streaks of Lush and Throwing Muses, as well as the influence of 90s indie rock in Becca and Billy Mohler's brightmoon.
Los Angeles duo brightmoon have released their debut EP First Light (22 May, Noon Records). Becca and Billy Mohler’s brightmoon project is a “melange of shoegaze, indie-rock, and Brit-pop”. Listeners will hear streaks of Lush and Throwing Muses, as well as the influence of My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and other 90s indie rock. All instruments and production are at the hand of Billy and the dreamy pop vocals and lyrics are the work of Becca. The band’s name is inspired by Bright Moon, the imaginary land of the animated superhero series She-Ra: The Princess of Power, a favourite of Becca.
While the pair currently live in the LA area, I learned that the two met on the East Coast – Becca grew up in my neck of the USA woods, the North East, and Billy is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston. The two were also in War Tapes and have toured with bands like Smashing Pumpkins, She Wants Revenge, The Bravery and Tiger Army. Billy is a critically-acclaimed musician and songwriter who has worked with the likes of Nile Rodgers, Allison Krauss, and Dolly Parton to name just a few. In this Q+A Becca and Billy offer some background about the brightmoon project and forthcoming EP. You’ll learn the background of two of their tracks, how they got to working with Sheffield, UK-based Noon Records and a few LA contemporaries they love listening to. Hint: one of them plays a harp. Plus, I just had to ask Billy what it was like to work with Dolly.
Has She-ra remained close to your heart, Becca? What’s a cherished memory you have related to the character or series?
Becca: I have always loved She-ra, and even saved an original Angella action figure from my childhood, though she is missing her wings. When the revamped series came out not too long ago, I fell in love with the She-ra story all over again. And the idea of Bright Moon, the place, inspired the name brightmoon for our band.
Becca, you are from the east coast but now live in LA - how does the West Coast suit you?
Becca: Well I have been here many years now, but I can say it took awhile to adjust. Now I really like the West Coast. I can feel the subtle changes to the seasons and appreciate how they are different from the more extreme seasons I experienced growing up in Massachusetts. To this day I still can not believe that you can drive from the ocean to the desert to the mountains in one day. And I will never not be amazed by the vastness and wild beauty of California!
Billy, am I allowed to ask how it felt to work with Dolly Parton?
Billy: Yes of course.....working with Dolly Parton was a dream! She’s such an incredible person and is otherworldly talented, such an inspiration to be around.
You both play bass - how did you two meet?
Becca: We met in Washington D.C. when Billy was touring and I was working for a record label. We hit it off immediately and ended up dating long distance for 2 years before I made the jump and moved to LA! We joke that it was a sliding doors moment, easily both of us could have done something different that day, but ended up in the same place at the same time. I did not play bass at that time, only guitar. But once I was out in LA, we started a band with my brother called War Tapes! Billy played the drums in the band and I picked up the bass! Now in brightmoon Billy is on guitar and I am still on bass :)
I hear Juliana Hatfield, Kim Deal, Throwing Muses and Lush in these songs, which obviously shows my age, but what do younger listeners tell you they hear?
Becca: Thank you, we love all those artists you mentioned so we appreciate that you have heard touches of each of them in our music. I would say we have heard references to Alvvays and Sea Lemon.
The songs of the EP are all guitar-driven, meaning you have not used any synths - why did you choose to go that way?
Billy: We wanted to create the music with the live sound we had in our heads. We knew we wanted two guitars, bass and drums when playing out, so we tried to stick to that concept in the production as much as we could.
Are there stories about the closing track “With Each Move You Make” and the title track “First Light”?
Becca: Both tracks are deeply introspective for me and are versions of a similar concept. “First Light” is a bit more abstract, While “With Each Move You Make” is a more direct approach, almost speaking directly rather than skirting around the edges. But both deal with what I think many of the lyrics in the EP lean to which is trying, failing, trying again, failing again, and ultimately having the realization that nothing will change so it is what it is and accept it.
How have you connected with listeners outside of your immediate city?
Becca: We have a little! We were invited to play a shoegaze festival in the Midwest, unfortunately travel and dates didn’t work for us. But it was really nice that they reached out and had heard of us! Hopefully, as we release more songs, we will continue to get our music out and heard in more places.
How did you end up working with Noon Records?
Becca: We finished some songs and thought it would be cool to release them with a label if we could find a small, boutique label, with common musical tastes and passions. We started researching online and came across some mentions about Noon Records. We reached out and here we are now! We are so grateful to have the artist support from Noon Records. We really admire and are huge fans of the entire roster of bands on Noon!!! We love what the label is doing, curating this amazing collective of creative artists and musicians!
What’s a song that you’d love brightmoon to cover?
Becca: We were so excited to cover Shudder to Think’s “Lies About the Sky” - one of our favorite songs of all time. If we were to do another cover I think a Grandaddy song would top the list or a Built to Spill song!
Is there a new or rising artist outside of pop and rock that you really dig at the moment?
Billy: Yes, we love Mary Lattimore and SML!
What do you have planned for the rest of this year?
Becca: We plan to continue to write and record more music, hopefully aim to release another EP later this year and just keep putting out new songs. We are playing a record release show in Long Beach, CA in May, but hope to schedule more shows throughout the summer!
Follow brightmoon on Instagram and Bandcamp for news on upcoming releases.