adapted from photo by Robbie Jeffers
The grunge adjacent, hallucinogenic sludge pop dreaminess of "First Light", by Brightmoon, aka Los Angeles alt rock married duo of vocalist / lyricist / bassist Becca and multi-instrumentalist / composer / producer Billy Mohler, feels like a sonic conductor to all things fluid, the ageless ability to get into a headspace where you feel passages of time in slow motion, like being ultra present and in the moment. I am loving the kind of 90's elevated garage rock aesthetic against Becca's sweetly gentle vocal persona. It is like a collision of Melvins, Built To Spill and Mazzy star (or something like that) and I am loving that kind of artful juxtaposition. But most of all, this track feels like a sonic refresh that make me want to run through the woods or remember deep drops into 5 foot closeouts at the Power Plant in Huntington Beach (in slow motion of course).
Becca and Billy's musical, artistic breathes and connective tissue within various musical scenes run deep as LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed) reveal:
[Before Brightmoon, Becca and Billy were the rhythm section of indie-rock band War Tapes, signed to Seattle’s Sarathan Records. As bassist/vocalist (Becca) and drummer (Billy), they toured across the US, UK, and Canada with artists such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Bravery, She Wants Revenge, and Tiger Army.]
[Billy is a critically-acclaimed musician and songwriter who has worked with many iconic musicians, across genres. A select cross-section includes Dolly Parton, Macy Gray, Lady Gaga, Nile Rogers, Jeff Parker, Sia, Awolnation, Allison Krauss, Pat Benatar, Miranda Lambert, Elle King, The Airbourne Toxic Event, Samantha Ronson, Kelly, Lenka Liz Phair, Mavis Staples, Kelly Clarkson, Steven Tyler, the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex (led by The Smashing Pumpkins drummer), The Calling, Jon Brion, and a host of others. A Berklee graduate and alumnus of the elite Thelonious Monk Institute, Billy studied under jazz giants like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, and continues an active jazz career.]
"First Light" is the title track from Brightmoon's upcoming debut six song EP set to drop May 22nd, 2026 via the boutique UK shoegaze record label Noon Records.
"I was meant to be alone/ But I’m here in my own hell/ I’d give anything you need/ If I could only give it to me..."
Brightmoon shares:
“Poetry and songwriting are the best outlets for me. It’s cheesy to say this, but they’re like therapy. I put my struggles and demons in my songs,” Becca shares. Billy adds: “Our music is a catharsis. For us, it’s a break from the challenges of daily living, and we want to provide that kind of respite for others.”
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[Becca and Billy’s full musical personalities are on display on First Light. Billy produced and played all the tracks, including bass, drums, and guitars. Often, like a jazz musician, he would improvise his parts while recording and leave them unedited, evoking the push and pull and rough edges of a four-piece band playing together in the studio. Brightmoon will, in fact, become a quartet when performing live with a full band of A-list musicians, including Pete Yorn guitarist Jason Johnson. Billy mixed all the rock-sounding tracks, and the others were mixed by either Ali Chant ( PJ Harvey, M. Ward, Soccer Mom) or Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Guided By Voices).]
[The title track single, First Light, was the song that cemented the vision of Brightmoon. It was the first song Billy and Becca collaborated on for the band, and it epitomizes its shoegaze aesthetic. At the start, a dense, filthy guitar riff yields to shimmering clean guitars and faraway dreamy vocals. Then an overdriven, thick-toned bass prowls the track, like Dirty-era Sonic Youth, while the guitar takes on a delicate, multi-dimensional textural role. The song vacillates between ethereal and angsty, evoking a perfect take on classic 1990s loud/soft dynamics.]
-Robb Donker Curtius
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/brightmoon_music
https://brightmoon.bandcamp.com/track/first-light
https://noonrecords.co/artists/brightmoon/
Brightmoon is the imaginary land in the animated superhero series, She-Ra and the Princess of Power, a favorite from Becca Mohler’s childhood. Every time the vocalist and lyricist heard a character reference it in the show, the place sounded ethereal and magical. When Mohler and her husband—producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Billy Mohler—set out to codify their new band, the name and those feelings became foundational inspirations.
The LA-based married duo is now bringing its own escapist thrills, whisking listeners back to a vibrantly creative time in the 1990s when guitar rock was brimming with iconoclastic, art-inclined musicians. Brightmoon’s roiling melange of shoegaze, indie-rock, and Brit-pop offers escapist thrills, while Becca’s dreamy vocals and fleeting, intangible, but emotionally visceral lyrics make this anything but nostalgia. These are real life frustrations and disappointments artfully rendered with a splatter of abstract guitar expression. The six-song EP will be released on boutique UK shoegaze record label Noon Records. The single “Lies About the Sky,” a reimagined Shudder to Think cover, will come out ahead of the EP.
“Poetry and songwriting are the best outlets for me. It’s cheesy to say this, but they’re like therapy. I put my struggles and demons in my songs,” Becca shares. Billy adds: “Our music is a catharsis. For us, it’s a break from the challenges of daily living, and we want to provide that kind of respite for others.”
Brightmoon’s aesthetic draws on the dense miasmic soundscapes of My Bloody Valentine and Lush, the frenetic dissonance of Sonic Youth, and the dreamy jangle reminiscent of The Smiths. Billy is a top-tier sonic auteur who played all the instruments on the EP, producing it like a shoegaze Phil Spector. He creates walls of sound from deftly layered guitars. Oftentimes, these thicket of sound play tricks on you and you think you hear a synth or some type of plugin, but it’s all guitar.
Beneath the sonics are songs strong enough to live as acoustic songs. They’re melodically rich, darkly catchy pop-rock dressed in gauzy shoegaze textures. Floating above these swirling songs is Becca’s angelic voice. Formerly known as a bassist and backing vocalist, with Brightmoon Becca emerges as a compelling frontwoman wielding a delicate power. In her lyrics, she turns vulnerable introspection into poetically-abstract emotionality.
Songs for this project came to Becca and Billy in a deluge of inspiration during a time when the couple were feeling overextended. Becca continues to maintain a solo career, while Billy is a Grammy-nominated session player, songwriter, and internationally touring jazz artist. Together, the pair are also raising a family. That meant Becca tracking vocals in the duo’s project studio while Billy made the kids dinner, and Billy hitting “record” and rushing to the drums not knowing what he’d play. It was fevered creativity for sure. In three weeks the couple wrote and recorded First Light.
Before Brightmoon, Becca and Billy were the rhythm section of indie-rock band War Tapes, signed to Seattle’s Sarathan Records. As bassist/vocalist (Becca) and drummer (Billy), they toured across the US, UK, and Canada with artists such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Bravery, She Wants Revenge, and Tiger Army.
Billy is a critically-acclaimed musician and songwriter who has worked with many iconic musicians, across genres. A select cross-section includes Dolly Parton, Macy Gray, Lady Gaga, Nile Rogers, Jeff Parker, Sia, Awolnation, Allison Krauss, Pat Benatar, Miranda Lambert, Elle King, The Airbourne Toxic Event, Samantha Ronson, Kelly, Lenka Liz Phair, Mavis Staples, Kelly Clarkson, Steven Tyler, the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex (led by The Smashing Pumpkins drummer), The Calling, Jon Brion, and a host of others. A Berklee graduate and alumnus of the elite Thelonious Monk Institute, Billy studied under jazz giants like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, and continues an active jazz career.
Becca and Billy’s full musical personalities are on display on First Light. Billy produced and played all the tracks, including bass, drums, and guitars. Often, like a jazz musician, he would improvise his parts while recording and leave them unedited, evoking the push and pull and rough edges of a four-piece band playing together in the studio. Brightmoon will, in fact, become a quartet when performing live with a full band of A-list musicians, including Pete Yorn guitarist Jason Johnson. Billy mixed all the rock-sounding tracks, and the others were mixed by either Ali Chant ( PJ Harvey, M. Ward, Soccer Mom) or Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, Guided By Voices).
The title track single, First Light, was the song that cemented the vision of Brightmoon. It was the first song Billy and Becca collaborated on for the band, and it epitomizes its shoegaze aesthetic. At the start, a dense, filthy guitar riff yields to shimmering clean guitars and faraway dreamy vocals. Then an overdriven, thick-toned bass prowls the track, like Dirty-era Sonic Youth, while the guitar takes on a delicate, multi-dimensional textural role. The song vacillates between ethereal and angsty, evoking a perfect take on classic 1990s loud/soft dynamics.
Brightmoon, Long Beach / Los Angeles California, husband and wife duo, Becca and Billy Mohler, previously of War Tapes, upcoming debut album "First Light", Noon Records, shoegaze, indie rock, post punk, grunge adjacent,
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