Rebecca Foon
Waxing Moon

"The ambience is heavy and sometimes ominous, with Foon’s deep-trawling voice at the core, but appropriately, Waxing Moon – named for when the moon’s brightness increases – is bathed in hope and spiritual substance." – MOJO ★★★★

"This hugely gifted cellist has gone neoclassically solo. Whilst Foon’s beautifully assured cello and elegantly minimalist piano features throughout, it’s that extraordinarily expressive voice of hers that really headlines. Exquisitely tender on "Ocean Song" and rousingly impassioned on the Arcade-Fire-nodding “Wide Open Eyes”, Foon’s talent feels more boundless now than ever." – Electronic Sound

"True to the raw beauty of the planet she's honoring, Waxing Moon sees Foon embracing a sparser, more piano-centric sound. Songs like "Another Realm" evoke the beauty of a film score, with long, sustained notes creating a mesmerizing, droning feel, with strings and voices coalescing in an almost dream-like trance... The music Foon has created on Waxing Moon is a fitting soundtrack to the work she's doing with the Pathway to Paris. It's full of hope, beauty, and perseverance." – PopMatters

"Pursuing a more intimate, minimal path, deploying her voice and piano against gorgeously orchestrated backdrops... Foon’s smoky, cracked voice caressing electronically enhanced strings, guitar and her cello. With the optimistic jangle of “Wide Open Eyes”, the sole uptempo track, this fascinating mysterious work benefits from total immersion to appreciate its finer impact." – PROG

Rebecca Foon, the composer and musician behind Saltland and Esmerine (and former longstanding member of Silver Mt. Zion) presents a new album entitled Waxing Moon. While best known as an incomparable cellist crafting textural soundscapes and instrumental chamber-rock in the aforementioned projects (and more recently recognized for her creative and organisational work as cofounder of Pathway To Paris), this new collection of songs finds Foon emphasizing piano and voice with striking intimacy and elegance, showcasing a captivating evolution in her always resplendent songwriting. The climate crisis has profoundly framed Foon’s political and artistic life for many years now, and Waxing Moon finds her writing and singing her most arrestingly direct yet poetic words, tapping universal and personal heartbreak in both despair and hope.

With Waxing Moon, Rebecca sets side the Saltland moniker – her electronically-tinged string-centric project from the past five years – to release this more personal new work under her own name. The album's ten songs are predominantly minimal and delicate, immersive and hauntingly beautiful – with vocal-driven tracks booked-ended by piano-based instrumentals, along with one up-tempo guitar-driven number ("Wide Open Eyes") that closes out Side One. While piano figures most prominently on the record, Foon continues to play cello on several tracks, complemented by gentle touches from a close coterie of musical guests including Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) and Mishka Stein (Patrick Watson) on acoustic and electric basses, Sophie Trudeau (Godspeed You Black Emperor) on violin, Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes) on electric guitar, and Patrick Watson as co-vocalist on the dreamlike "Vessels". Foon co-produced the album with Lasek at Montréal's Breakglass studio and it sounds glorious.

Waxing Moon is Rebecca Foon's first eponymous release: a sublimely stunning, bracingly intimate, glimmeringly full-hearted new chapter in her celebrated musical catalog. Thanks for listening.

PACKAGING NOTES

Deluxe 180gram vinyl pressed at Optimal (Germany) comes in a 20pt/400gsm jacket with matte UV varnish, black flood on the inside, and an audiophile polylined black paper inner dust sleeve. Includes 12”x24” art print poster and two 12”x12” inserts all printed on uncoated archival 140M paper. Includes digital download. Artwork by Brigitte Henry.

CD comes in a custom mini-gatefold jacket printed on 100% recycled CCNB 20pt paperboard with matte UV varnish and an inner dust sleeve for the disc. Artwork by Brigitte Henry.

CREDITS

All songs written by Rebecca Foon
Except “Wide Open Eyes” written by Jace Lasek, Richard Reed Parry and Rebecca Foon
Produced by Rebecca Foon and Jace Lasek
Recorded and mixed at Breakglass Studios in Montréal
Mastered by Corwin Fox
Artwork by Brigitte Henry

FEATURED GUESTS

Jace Lasek – organ, guitars, synth, vocals, drums (tracks 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10)
Richard Reed Parry – double bass, vocals, acoustic guitar (tracks 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Mishka Stein – electric bass (tracks 3, 4, 5, 8, 9)
Sophie Trudeau – violins, vocals (tracks 3, 9)
Patrick Watson – vocals (track 8)

All Waxing Moon royalties shall be donated to Pathway To Paris and its 1000 Cities initiative for carbon freedom.