Dream-Pop band Moira graces The Honest Pint stage this Sunday
The self-described “dream-pop” band, Moira, is making their Chattanooga debut this Sunday at the Honest Pint. The Dayton, Ohio based band’s Scenic City stop is part of an exhaustive Spring/Summer tour crisscrossing the Midwest and Southeast and the rapidly growing demand for their unique flavor of semi-vintage ethereal electronica is proof enough that the band is making a name for themselves.
In short, if you haven’t heard of them yet, you will, particularly if you continue reading this article.
The group’s large, lush, layered sound belies the fact that is a mere trio, albeit it a trio of some pedigree. Alicia Grodecki contributes the vocals as well as synthesizer and Rhodes piano. No stranger to the stage, Grodecki toured nationally with synth-pop band Vanity Theft before teaming up with her current bandmates to form Moira.
Considering the instrumentation and direction of the band, a background in synth-pop isn’t entirely unexpected. Considerably more unexpected is the hardcore punk background of her rhythm section.
Patrick Hague demonstrates a masterful command of drums and percussion, as well as sampling, an endeavor the band has expended no small amount of time and energy on. Likewise, Aaron Hardy plays the perfect complementary bass as well as doubling Alicia on synths and Patrick on samples.
A word on samples and sampling; it is a technique I was admittedly skeptical of, once upon a time. I’ve long since come to acknowledge it for what is, simply another tool in a musician’s arsenal. Like so many other tools, it may be used to good effect but it is no less capable of becoming gimmicky. Then there’s Moira, a group that elevates the technique to pure art. Any lingering skepticism on my part is long since dispelled.
Minus vocals, Moira would be a very good band, producing moody, dream-like pieces that are remarkable in both subtlety and complexity. With the vocals, however…Moira becomes something else altogether, transcendent and wholly unique. The wedding of voice and instrument in this band is sublime which would be noteworthy in any circumstance but all the more so given the relatively short time Moira has spent crafting their sound.
The trio essentially invested a year in developing their sound and style, collecting and creating samples, and creating compositions that are so wonderfully original it’s difficult to find anything to offer for comparison (there are some qualities of Gordecki’s voice that remind me of Julie Stepanek of Calamine.)
Doors open for this show at 8 p.m. with the show commencing at 9 p.m. Admission is just $10 and this is a 21-and-up show. Moira will be joined by local favorites ambient/indie/prog group Mother Nurture from Cleveland and the always mind-bending “space jazz” of Chilhowee Royal.