Fiona Moonchild by Cole Kravitz
Seattle-based Fiona Moonchild is touring, at last, in support of a debut album that came out in late 2021 and has, for reasons too numerous to mention, not gotten the extensive live workout it deserves. “It’s been a strange go-around for this release,” the Bumblefest headliner told PureHoney in a missive sent in July from the South of France, where Fiona was working on new music and trying out a recently acquired bass clarinet that had become a new obsession.
Her summer schedule included a rock ’n’ roll sailing tour on Spain’s Cantabrian Sea playing drums with Sonny and the Sunsets. From there, it would be back to the U.S. for a string of live summer and fall dates. “I’m finally getting out on tour and seeing if the road will rise to meet my wheels,” Fiona said.
The album, Sweets of Reason, gestated during the Covid pandemic and grew out of Fiona’s work as a touring collaborator with fellow Pacific Northwesterners including Scott Yoder and Doglob. From there, she began assembling her own songs in her bedroom, and migrated to sessions made possible by winning the annual Crybaby Studios Musicians Grant in Seattle. Further production happened, of all places, on an extended sea cruise — where a pattern of music-making seems to have been set — down the Pacific Coast.
The music is a melancholy fever dream, with wistful melodies and Fiona’s distant-sounding voice wreathed in guitar and synth. A product of both Covid confinement and seagoing freedom, Sweets of Reason hums with introspection and romance, and rides along on a snappy, steadying backbeat.
“I have an insanely good backing band with my best friends,” Fiona said, noting that her touring ensemble includes Yoder, the glitter-folk balladeer whose own crew of glam misfits are regular visitors to South Florida. “This year and beyond has been me doubling down on doing the only thing I love, touring and playing music. The moon is calling to me and I have to follow.”
Bumblefest is Sept. 6 and 7 in downtown West Palm Beach. bumblefest.com fionamoonchild.bandcamp.com ~ Tim Moffatt
