Half Moon Run has earned a great deal of praise since releasing debut album, “Dark Eyes” a little over a year ago. The Montreal-based group has been particularly well-received internationally and their fan base includes many in the music industry. Half Moon Run was recently hand-picked by Mumford and Sons as openers in Europe, and they are opening for Icelandic hit-makers, Of Monsters And Men on their May and June North America tour. Fresh off a seven day break after returning from Europe, Half Moon Run played The Republik for a midweek show on May 8th.
Vancouver quintet The Belle Game started off the night, enthusiastically warming up the crowd despite having been woken up early by day-home kids at the “friend of a friend’s” house they stayed at the night before. Their dark, orchestral pop songs can be found on their debut album, “Ritual Tradition Habit“.
Members of Half Moon Run were seen shortly after, helping set up equipment. Despite the very warm spring day in Calgary, front-man Devon Portielje set up while wearing a pom pom toque. This served as an endearing reminder that this is a down-to-earth Canadian band, back on home soil. Portielje is originally from Ottawa, Conner Molander and Dylan Phillips and newest touring member, Isaac Symonds are all from the Comox, BC area. They all impressively contribute vocally, while doubling on many different instruments.
Half Moon Run began their set with a couple of their slower songs, “21 Gun Salute” and “Nerve”. Also early on, they treated the crowd to a new song, “Unofferable” which met with cheers when the sweet sounds of the harmonica blew in. Already toque-less when he came out to play, Portielje took off his top shirt in preparation for the next song. The slow burn anticipation that had been building in the previous songs, exploded with the first few notes of “Call Me In the Afternoon”. As one of the happier sounding Half Moon Run songs, which has also had quite a bit of radio play, it was not surprising to see many audience members join in the fun that was happening on stage. With three of the four band members channeling their energy into pounding drum heads and rims in unison, the show really took off from there.
Several times in the night, many band members and audience members were enthusiastically jumping up and down to the beats, and at other moments everyone was mesmerized and quietly singing along. On the relatively well known “Full Circle”, the crowd was encouraged by the band to sing along, but it was hard to decide whether or not to join in or just soak in the lush soundscape that was topped off by Portielje’s hauntingly plaintive voice. Overall, Half Moon Run’s sound is musically thick but also very accessible. The show closers, “Give Up” and “She Wants to Know” notably have an atmospheric, melancholic, Radiohead vibe to them, but they do not come across so much as a “copy-cat”, but simply show their influences.
The group was called out for an encore and a few adoring fans put out requests for them to take off their shirts. Humble and thankful for the attention of their musical talents, this group of young men seemed to be not quite used to this kind of attention. No items of clothing were removed, but the crowd was treated to all four band members coming up to the edge of the stage to sing a cover song, “Creatures of the Night”, without mics. Their beautiful harmonies were accompanied only by ukulele. The night ended with a blues number that gave another glimpse into the varied musical influences of the group.
The camaraderie on stage bubbled out to the crowd, who left what is likely to be one of the smallest venues they will be able to see this band in as their career takes off. The momentum is gaining for Half Moon Run to break out of the pack of current indie bands, and they could very well forge a path similar to that of fellow Montrealers, Arcade Fire.