Moonchy & Tobias: Wild Eye

Avant duo Moonchy & Tobias goes for an experimental choral mood on their new album Wild Eye. The musical partnership singer Pat Moonchy and multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias is a journey of exploring the outer regions of popular music, with forays into ambient soundscapes, shifting time signatures and pushing the limits of electronics. With lyrics in Latin, Italian and English the vocals serve as an extra instrument. They are adamant to create something fresh and new with each release, and never repeat the same form twice. It can be challenging to get into, but it is worth the effort. And when it clicks, the listener is always left wanting more.

They look both East and West of their new album, visiting dreamed up places like Shangri La in Asia's Kunlun Mountains, endure the heat and the dust while traveling on a Road of Sand and are tricked by a Mirage. Their knack for creating tension and release is in full swing. Tobias's experience as an inventive producer and sculptor of sounds enables to use simple motif change that can turn the mood pretty much instantly, with Moonchy's innocent delivery turning into an operatic squeal without warning. Wild Eye offers a different perspective for anyone who wants to look beyond the safe routes and explore new ways to enjoy music.

Moonchy & Tobias: Golem

Avant duo Moonchy & Tobias continue their quest to create adventurous music. Singer Pat Moonchy and multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias have been working together since 2018. The sharp contrast between Moonchy's high pitched vocals (in Italian, Latin and English) and Tobias's knack for coming up with an amalgam of post-rock soundscapes, riff and power chords, has lessened a bit with each new release, but the intensity is still in full bloom.

On their fourth full-length, Golem, there are elements of psychedelic rock, widescreen motifs of the Ennio Morricone variety, raga, a motorik beat a la Can, and much, much more. It is their darkest sounding collection of songs to date. Imagine enjoying the rides of an entertainment park that has been closed to the public, due to some serious health and safety issues. A thrilling, chilling and ultimately very rewarding listening experience.

Moonchy & Tobias: Venus Mirror

Avant duo Moonchy & Tobias go for a lighter, more accessible sound on their new Venus Mirror EP. Singer Pat Moonchy sings once again in Latin and her native tongue Italian, with Todd Tobias providing a stew of bubbling synths, acoustic guitar and beats that for a lack of better description could be labeled as sunny post-rock. The title track - Specchio Di Venere means Venus Mirror - is a wordless serenade to inner beauty. Moonchy hits all the notes in a stream of consciousness-like state. Foglia Di Te is almost as introspective, with the music going round and round as the tea leaves in the cup that was the inspiration for the lyrics.

Music geeks will give a thumbs up to the warm major sevenths of jazz and Shoshana Klein's Oboe in Delibo. It is their most optimistic effort to date, going out on a high note with the closing track Leniter, Latin for "gently" or "mildly". Venus Mirror is for daydreamers of all ages.

Moonchy & Tobias: "Delibo" video; new EP "Venus Mirror"

Watch the new Moonchy & Tobias video for Delibo, the lead single from their forthcoming new EP Venus Mirror, out on June 5 via Hidden Shoal and Tiny Room Records. Singer Pat Moonchy holds back on this one, her voice coming close to a whisper every now and then, with Todd Tobias supplying a comfortable bed of sounds, relying on the warm major sevenths of jazz for extra comfort. Shoshana Klein plays a bit of plays Oboe, a nice addition to the duo's musical palette.

Moonchy & Tobias: Moonchy & Tobias III

Ohio based experimentalist Todd Tobias and Italian avant-garde singer Pat Moonchy go in at the deep end on their third album, taking cues from Portishead’s lauded Third. A sense of foreboding is eminent inn the soundscapes and by using Latin it could be mistaken for a gospel record, albeit one where art is the thing that offers mankind comfort and a sense for beauty.

Most of the tracks move slowly - Frangit inches forward at snail's pace - making Moonchy & Tobias III a listening experience that is an oasis in a sped-up world wherein everything is moving so fast that details and nuances are lost. This music is best experienced in solitude wearing a set of premium headphones.

Moonchy & Tobias: "Petali Caduti" video

Watch the new Moonchy & Tobias video for Petali Caduti, the second single from their forthcoming new album Moonchy & Tobias III, out on October 30 via Hidden Shoal and Tiny Room Records. Pat Moonchy sings in Latin again, with Todd Tobias providing a soundscape maze that is sligthly disturbing, but it is a joy to wander around in. Gentle avant-garde as a gateway to their parallel universe where time and moods shift in a way that will send physicists back to their drawing boards.

» moonchytobias.com

HCTF review of Atmosfere.

Moonchy & Tobias: "Sericum" video; new album "Moonchy & Tobias III" 10/30

Watch the new Moonchy & Tobias video for Sericum, a track from their forthcoming new album Moonchy & Tobias III, out on October 30 via Hidden Shoal and Tiny Room Records. Pat Moonchy sings in Latin, with Todd Tobias providing the dreamy and compelling music. A part cerebral part sacral composition, that will baffle Portishead fans in a good way.

» moonchytobias.com

HCTF review of Atmosfere.

Moonchy & Tobias: "Lo Sguardo" video

Watch the new Moonchy & Tobias video for Lo Sguardo, a track from their Atmosfere album, a soft-spoken collaboration of two avant-garde musicians. "All lyrics are in Italian, but there is no need to be fluent in that language in order to get the gist of the words. Tobias plays a kot of acoustic guitar on the tracks and the tinkling sound of that instrument is like a second guide. Pick one to follow or change mid-song to find something new and interesting. All tracks are invitations to dream and wonder." The clip was made by Budano Lino.

» moonchytobias.com

HCTF review of Atmosfere.

Moonchy & Tobias: "Pioggia e sale" video

Watch the new Moonchy & Tobias video for Pioggia e sale, a track from their Atmosfere album, a soft-spoken collaboration of two avant-garde musicians. "All lyrics are in Italian, but there is no need to be fluent in that language in order to get the gist of the words. Tobias plays a kot of acoustic guitar on the tracks and the tinkling sound of that instrument is like a second guide. Pick one to follow or change mid-song to find something new and interesting. All tracks are invitations to dream and wonder."

» moonchytobias.com

HCTF review of Atmosfere.

Moonchy & Tobias: Atmosfere

Ohio based experimentalist Todd Tobias and Italian avant-garde singer Pat Moonchy have teamed up for a collaborative Moonchy & Tobias album. Their self-titled debut was a nice surprise, a meeting of musical minds that left the listener wanting more.

Atmosfere picks up the quiet intensity of the debut, meandering soundscapes with Moonchy as a guide to a pastoral, almost childlike world. All lyrics are in Italian, but there is no need to be fluent in that language in order to get the gist of the words. Tobias plays a kot of acoustic guitar on the tracks and the tinkling sound of that instrument is like a second guide. Pick one to follow or change mid-song to find something new and interesting. All tracks are invitations to dream and wonder.

HCTF's best of 2018 (10-6)

• 20-16
• |
• 15-11
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• 10-6
• |
• 5-1

» Best of playlist

» Listen here

HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. As per usual many genres are represented. This blog covers a lot of ground and it shows in this eclectic, final tally.

Today: countdown from number 10 to 6.

Please shop at your local record store, buy directly from the artist, attend live shows. Don't block anyone's view with with your phone (better still, switch it off altogether). Shut the fuck up while the band is playing. Educate your friends. Word-of-mouth can't be beat as the prime source to discover new music.

Moonchy & Tobias: Moonchy & Tobias

Oer the last couple of years Todd Tobias released a bunch of atmospheric soundscapes, telling stories without words. His new album is a collaborative effort with Italian avant-garde singer Pat Moonchy, whose voice is not a vessel for lyrics per se, but more of a solo instrument. her almost childlike operatic delivery is a contrast for Tobias music that can be harsh at times, but also be gently flowing like a brook in Spring.

Moonchy & Tobias is an intense listening experience and untrained ears will have trouble withe the dissonance and dark mood that lays like a heavy blanket on top of the tracks. The music buzzes and crackles (not to mention that it can be a bit frightening as well). The duo might have invented a whole new genre with this album: operatic post-psychedelic avant-garde that needs be explored more often in the near future.