EP Review: Young Moon Is A Broken Bone

Young Moon is an alter-ego of Nelson-residing San Francisco native William Trevor Montgomery. Having already produced work with Tarentel, The Drift, and Lazarus, this highly prolific songwriter is now presenting a double EP, the first of which is reviewed here.

I had the pleasure of reviewing the second of the two, and you can have the pleasure of listening to them both here. The first track of Young Moon Is A Broken Bone is This Is My Heart. A pulse of programmed drums and fuzzy guitar is joined by a brief stabbing of keys before the vocals begin. It’s clear within the first 60 seconds that this is a composer with a strong ability to create hooks, I’m pulled into the river of this track and borne along by the strength of the current. Having listened all the way through, I can’t move on to the next track just yet, this song is too good, demanding repeated listens. It grabs you in both sharply taloned feet, and insists you fly with it over and over again. There’s a worthy beauty to the lo-fi production, and to the languorous delivery of the lyrics, both simple and compelling, I love their poetic construction. A powerfully big chord sustains and slowly fades to mark this song’s end. When I Went Away From The Light follows next, and entirely different feel here, light and breezy, with distinctly more winsomeness to the vocals. A sweetly clean guitar is almost sloppily strummed, not from any lack of ability, but as a clearly deliberate attempt to add to the relaxed feel. A middle instrumental section has increasing layers of guitars, being eventually rejoined by the bass, and programmed drums. A warm contrast to the previous track.

On Know Yer Way, once again I’m immediately captured by the masterful composition and musicianship. This track has a softly haunting feel, but not in a morose or sombre way. An entirely instrumental piece, redolent of treasured memories perhaps, or bittersweet thoughts. Next up is A Chance To Burn Leaves. The beginning of this one has me immediately thinking of the word “Americana”, I love that each one of these songs has a unique character, almost completely different to the others. The vocal melody here is superb, not that the others aren’t, by any means. This one just particularly stands out for me. Artfully placed shakers and tambourine add to this track’s character, a perfect soundtrack for aimlessly driving in a top-down convertible on a warm spring day. On Of Course I Forgot, the level of reverb spread liberally over everything lends a massive and cavernous air, both huge and sober. The vocal line and attendant harmonies are borderline anthemic, aided by the simplicity of the lyrics, “Here we are, we’re gonna wake up” being the sole line, repeated throughout until gently fading underneath the instruments at around the three-quarter mark, with layers of guitar gently taking over from the giganticness of the voices and percussion.

Your Lies Are True has a not entirely dissimilar tempo and massiveness to Of Course I Forgot, but with a more washy and dreamy mood. A gorgeous opening lyric: “Your love is like a wave, I wanna ride it every day”, with another sublime vocal melody. This is an utterly magnificent love song; we should all be so lucky as to be loved like the subject of these lyrics. Honestly… this. This is how you write a love song. This is beautiful. I could write a thousand love songs and never write one this good. That closing line… “Your arms are destiny“, man, it got me right in the feels. The final track is Broken Bone At Best. A raw and fuzzed-up guitar scrapes and sits at the edge of feedback as the rhythm kicks in with an urging and solid beat. One guitar plays clean arpeggios, the other is all fuzz and snarling chords. There’s a post-punky, new-wavey sound here, with thoughtful and reflective lyrics. I love his voice, rich and full, but with a tinge of rasp and regret. A voice that has lived a life and has come out the other side scarred but defiantly undefeated.

Young Moon may be a broken bone, but through gritted teeth and swallowed pain, the limb still functions, with alacrity and skill. Fantastic work.