Moon Letters, from Seattle, Washington, has returned with their sophomore album following in the success of 2019’s Until They Feel the Sun, debut album. They will release the new album Thank You from the Future, this August.
Thank You from the Future, is a magical journey through the past and what I hope will be the future of progressive music. This is music which stays true to the elements we all remember as progressive rockers, from such icons as Genesis, IQ, King Crimson, ELP, Kaipa, Wobbler, Kansas and others. You will hear much of the past delivered in a new and wondrous way, and at a pace that the legends would celebrate. It is like hearing early classics like Foxtrot for the first time, all over again; only delivered in a new way, from a new voice.
So, let’s start there. Thank you, Michael Trew, for sending this precious music to me, so early. Michael’s voice has developed to the point where I think he should be considered amongst some of the greats in the progressive rock world today. Michael sounds like a great mix between a young, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. His voice not only complements Moon Letter’s music, it illuminates it. Michael also plays flute, as Peter did. He plays acoustic and 12-string electric guitar on “Child of Tomorrow”. Michael performs percussion experiments and Barbaric yawps, to complete the coup de grâce. As Michael states, “The lyrics came from pre-pandemic, through 2021, so reflect a lot of what I was seeing every day. “Sudden Sun”, and “Fate of the Alacorn” lyrics are personal stories in my youth”.
John Allday, is the keyboardist extraordinaire, which elevates Moon Letters’ sound to the point where many European bands in the genre are today. Allday is the second key which makes this band a world contender. He plays electric piano, organ, synthesizers, virtual orchestra, and sings vocals, and Mercurial chant.
His musicianship on this album, like the last, leaves a lasting impression. And I especially appreciated the pipe organ sounds on “Fate of Alacorn”. Thank you very much for that John.
Dave Webb, is the third key to this album and band. His guitar work is original and at times, reminds me of the best of Steve Hackett’s more metal/heavier moments. His lead guitar work is harder than what you might remember from early Genesis music. He even does a great “Little Wing” – like, Hendrix salute, on “Mother River’s” opening. Dave plays, electric guitars, metal toolbox, shovel, and adds primordial grunts.
Mike Murphy, on electric fretted and fretless bass, also adds vocals, percussion, and Earthen grumbles. He and Kelly Mynes, on drums, percussion, and Moon screech, are just as essential as all of the other band members. They keep pace and help provide the deep and powerful sounds that complete this album.
The concept of the album involves making the most of the time we have left on this planet that we are destroying. Enjoying it fully for all it is worth, before it is gone forever. The lyrics are full of mystery and mythical creatures, great and small. The future and past of the world and Michael’s impressions of it are everywhere on this album. The best and the worst of mankind’s adventures on Earth can be heard throughout the lyrics.
Every track on the album is worth experiencing and enjoying to its fullest. I suggest headphones for your first listen. That way you catch all the hidden nuances, while avoiding the noise of open air.
“Sudden Sun”, opens the album with a cool guitar shredding from Dave Webb that you will remember as a highlight. But Allday’s keyboards are never better here. Michael sings, “Strange days walk the hallways of this maze. All I need is the power of here, and now. Cold days, alone, I go through your old tapes. Signal is fading, visions of you. Still alive, you speak in dreams. Staring at forever, in a summer feeling…” Yes, there is a summer feel to this entire album. Bright and shining, despite progressive rock’s usual fall feel and place. A perfect opening track. Like the sudden sun of a ‘blue-sky’, Seattle summer day.
Next up, “The Astral Projectionist” Trilogy. A summary of Michael’s impressions of C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy. “The Hrossa”, opens the trilogy. “Communication, only in song. Sowing the evening, harvest the dawn. Beautiful Hrossa, I couldn’t see. Deep in the river, deep in the heat. I should have told you the nature of man. Fire is leaping from out of their hands”. All of this amidst beautiful organ and quality lead electric guitar. The drums and bass set a perfect pace. Like a trip down ‘Squonk” lane. The blazing keyboards and vocal amazement peaks take you back to the wonder of Moody Blues moments you remember from “Nights in White Satin”, or “Tuesday Afternoon”. All is needed is the poetic opening to make it so. Very nice. Michael continues, “I don’t want to tell you. My world is full of violence. I’d rather leave you unaware. We fight when there’s enough to share”. Then, “Always running up that hill”. Till you’re out of breath. Till there’s nothing left”. Thank you for the Kate Bush “running up the hill” moment. Even if it wasn’t planned to be. One of the best songs on the album and the best of the trilogy.
“Mother River”, opens with Webb’s ode to Jimi Hendrix, which sounds so wonderfully like “Little Wing”. Then, the keyboards and Michael sings, “The far side of the wave. Rolling, following the tide. Knowing why. Seeds of the world. Planted the tree has begun. Turn them to blackbirds, backwards we can’t go. Star system, star being born. Into antennas, branches have grown…” Then keyboards, which will take you back to Foxtrot and all those wonderful Gabriel-era sounds of Genesis. Michael returns, “There is a river, a beautiful river. Give her your sorrow. Can’t stop the river. If you can hear her, don’t disregard her. She’s come to free us, bring us back to our mother. Can’t stop the river!” He closes, “Nothing now divides us, I feel we’re syncretized. Adharra, eight-hundred one, flew too close to the sun. Red root chakra, pulsar magnetar!” Absolutely excellent.
“Isolation and Foreboding”, closes out side one of the album, and the Space Trilogy. Michael sings, “She had a dream about them, digging the ancient. Out of the quiet earth, suddenly fainted. He had sweet delusions of the in-crowd. There’s a new identity, you can’t get out. Everything is under control; nothing is under your control. Everything is nothing, to the nothingness waiting to devour. Never get used to isolation, foreboding is the sensation. Slippery slopes to a chasm of doom. The system’s cruel, system consumes”. After all that, an incredible moment, of an almost pulling together two classics of prog, IQ’s “Harvest of Souls” and Genesis Supper’s Ready”; which will remain with me, in memory, for the rest of this year. Michael sings, “And while you were sleeping, the harvest has come. He was terrified with what he’d become. There is beauty in the earth, and life inside the dirt. Banedon, I feel I’m falling. The isolation is breaking down”. “Isolation and Foreboding” also has those wonderful bouncy keys we remember from Wakeman and Moraz of Yes, along with Michael’s voice matching the rhythm as Jon did on many Yes classics. It is spectacular. Mike Murphy’s bass, adds to the rhythm, adding that signature element of Chris Squire we all miss.
Side B of the album opens with “Child of Tomorrow”, my early favorite song, on the album; and one that should be the album’s first single. “Child of Tomorrow” kicks off with power drums and a blistering Kaipa – like, wired guitar sound. Michael describes “Child of Tomorrow” as, “the plight of future generations”. Keyboards and organ flow through the background, as Michael sings, “See the coyote in the city. Fishes are swimming in her veins. Buzzing like bees inside your head of flowers. You are the morning light; they’re covering their eyes. So, cry, and just like bells do their hollow hearts clang. Child of tomorrow, this new world is yours. There’s nothing to return to anymore”. What will be left for future generations, as we bleed the planet for all we can and have? There may be nothing new to return to anymore. His description is perfect. A new album and a new day. Nothing to return to anymore. The past is gone. Move forward. Listen to this and leave the past behind. The keyboard and guitar solos are extremely wonderful. Acoustic guitar adds a soft, wonderful moment, just like so many Yes, songs of the past. Every moment of this epic is worth the ticket to own it. Michael sings, “A day of reckoning has come. There is no middle ground in this war for your soul. But the sweetness of life, can be stolen away. So, hold on!”
“Fate of the Alacorn”, is another epic track, like the ones we remember from the 70s. Michael sings, “The earth opens wide, and I fall…Like a snowy swan, soon the child is gone. Over hard roads, cold electrodes. Carve up all my hope, hi-fi in-fi cope. Secret radio, midnight remedy. Lucid dreams push boundaries. Mix-tape mantra, sound hound is moving my life. Bright sun is in the east. With my old guitar, ride sans amplifier. Train track wanderer, sleep rough. They want to steal your white hat. Cannot stop your flight path. Burning up a heavy road. Ours is a living thing, a waking dream”. Then, that wonderful pipe organ sound, that I mentioned earlier. Just fantastic!
“Yesterday is Gone”, opens with a powerful IQ/Michael Holmes electric guitar sound, unlike most of the album that features a Kaipa/Roine Stolt guitar sound. That regal sound is so appreciated. Michael Trew adds flute to take this one over the top. Michael opens, “I heard the news today, (Nice Beatles’ reference from my favorite Beatles’ song), a shadow comes our way. If we don’t stop right now, this won’t go away. You would rather laze away. Don’t seem bothered, all that you love. Yesterday is gone, yes, it’s gone. All is light, ease your mind. I will yield as the branches of pure delight”. Michael co-wrote the lyrics with keyboardist, John Allday.
Moon Letters is an American version of what I believe Wobbler is doing in Europe and Norway. Moon Letters’ music captures the brilliance of the past, while at the same time providers stories and sounds which are different and innovative, and most importantly draw you in, just like Genesis and the icons of prog did to their stories and sounds. This is the best new progressive album I have heard this year.
Every song on this album is magnificent. The stories they tell are as magical as Until They Feel the Sun, “Squonk”, “Wonderous Stories”, “Turn of the Century”, and others we remember from the past.
The music you hear on Thank You from the Future, is profound and imaginative. It is new and yet somewhat familiar at the same time. I keep wanting to compare it to memories of the past, but indeed some of this is incomparable. It sounds new and exciting and you just know and sense it. You know you are listening to something new and profound and something that will stay close to your side, just like Until They Feel the Sun, to be cherished for a lifetime, like the classics.
Track List
Side A
1. Sudden Sun
* The Astral Projectionist *
2. The Hrossa
3. Mother River
4. Isolation and Foreboding
Side B
5. Child of Tomorrow
6. Fate of the Alacorn
7. Yesterday is Gone
Moon Letters, Thank You from the Future, was produced by Robert Cheek and Moon Letters. Engineered by Robert Cheek at ExEx Audio (Seattle, WA). Vocal overdubs, hand percussion and acoustic guitars recorded at ^^vv Studio (Seattle, WA). Mastered by Colin Marston at Menegroth, The Thousand Caves (Queens, NY). The cover art, Visiting of the Children was produced by Mariano Peccinetti (Mendoza, Argentina). The band photography and back cover design by Peter Hanson (Seattle, WA). Band logo produced by Suzanna Fisher. Layout created by Zach Wise. Moon Letters would like to thank our families, friends, collaborators, and everyone who has supported and championed us through the years.
E – Mail: band@moonletters.com
https://www.moonletters.com
https://moonletters.bandcamp.com