MOON LETTERS

This week I'll be reviewing the third and latest a;bum by Seattle based proggers, Moon Letters, titled "This Dark Earth". The band was formed by members of various other Seattle area prog Bands in 2019, and they released their first album that same year, called " Until They Feel the Sun". They followed it up in 2022 with "Thank You from the Future". The band is made up of the following members:

- John Allday / keyboards, vocals, trumpet - Mike Murphy / bass, vocals - Kelly Mynes / drums, percussion - Michael Trew / lead vocals, flute, congas - Dave Webb / guitars, percussion

I have heard a few songs frome their first two albums that I liked, but I have heard none of this one, so as usual, this is a cold listen.

Disclosure: This review was requested by Anne-Claire of Bad Dog promotions, which I have had a loose association with since March 2025, but as always, I "call it like I hear it" and receive no compensation for the review.

Lets's get listening!

Track 1 - Energy of the Heart

We begin with a snare fill that brings the band in on a moderate tempo. But at around 35 seconds in the temp increases dramatically. With an intricate run from the musicians. The vocals join at around the one minute mark, with 2 parts. The rhythm guitar plays a bit of Randy Rhoads style at times. It's heavy bit not really metal. At around 2:40, there is a funky bass groove from Mike Murphy, and then some really cool analog synth sounds that come straight from the disco era. The band is super tightr in that instrumental section. The vocals resume afterwards As per the title, this is a very high energy tune! At 3:30 the tempo slows down and there is a trippy guitar break leading to a terrific vocal harmony section. The guitar and then the synths take the spotlight next. This leads us to a peaceful ending. Fun opening track with a quirky, unique vibe.

Track 2 - Silver Dream

This begins with the band playing tightly together on a riff reminiscent of the Flower Kings. We go into a 6-8 vibe, but it feels like we occasionally skip a beat. At 1:20 it goes into a few measures of odd meter. This feels a bit like an early rock ballad but through a kaleidoscope. At a little after 3 minutes Dave Webb gives us some rapid right hand tapping. Following that, only Michael Trew's vocals and John Allday's piano continue. A freaky keyboard riff takes us to a heavier section with almost Black Sabbath vibes. The tempo double times, then we have a trumpet solo! Up next the guitar and keys trade licks. This is a fun track with many twists and turns. I believe we have a mellotron choir are we reach the ending accompanying the guitar. Cool track!

Track 3 - Island of Magic Mirrors

The vocals on this one kick right off with the band at a rapid tempo. Great harmonies over odd meter changes. At around 1 minute the tempo slows down for some spacy guitar. A quirky bass riff brings the tempo back up. I keep using the word quirky, as I can't think of a better word to describe what I am hearing, but I mean it as a complement! We have a fun wah-wah solo at around 2 minutes, with lots of interesting sounds accompnying. Murphy and Mynes are a tight rhythm section holding all of the musical mayhem together. This one gives me some Zappa vibes at times! I love the line "My wings are melting as I see your face!" Man, I don't know what kind of synths Allday uses, but they sound straight out of the 70s! (again, a complement.) The closing riffs ended the song on an exciting note! Loving this album so far.

Track 4 - Lonely Moon

This is a very short track at 2:10. We have acoustic guitar for the first time, accompanied by the bass. Some keys follow soon after. This appears to be a briefe acoustic interlude. There are significant contributions from the bass, though. Nice peaceful track!

Track 5 - In the Catacombs

Harmony vocals and lead guitar kick-off the festivities here. The guitar riff follows with an almost hair metal groove. There are lots of rhythmic twists and turns, then?DOUBLETIME! There is a lot of complex instrumental interplay going on here. Rapid-fire rund pop in between vocal phrases. There is a bit of 7-8 as we cross the 2-minute mark. After it drops to nearly nothing, Trew has a mighty scream over some extremely precision playing. This may only be a 4 and a half minute song, but damn, too many shifts to describe here. WOW! Very impressive.

Track 6 - Dawn of the Winterbird

And here we have the 17:18 closing epic. This one begins with a somewhat tropical groove, Each of the opening verses ends with sustained vocal harmonies while the beat is kind of "suspended". After 2 verses, we go into 5-4 then 7-8. The 7-8 is a modified Bolero beat to my ears. The beat straightens out to 4-4 at around 3:15. Next there is a mellow section with keys accompanying the vocals (possibly mellotron). After a pause of a few seconds, a new section begins with clean guitar in an almost "Little Wing" feel at first, then the rhythm section kiosks in. Just before 6 minutes, the guitars get heavier sounding, and we get a half-time feel. This has a nice groove here at around 6:30. The intensity kicks up by the 8 minute mark. Nice guitar fills here. At around 8:50 the sound gets much bigger. Then about 9:25 there is another pause and the music gets more mellow. We start getting heavier again after the 10 minute point. The vocals return at 11 minutes with a mellow-phasey guitar part accompanying. Nice piano at 12 minutes. Then we rock out by 12:30. Cool instrumental interplay around 13:30. Nice long, sustained vocal note around 14:35. I believe we are building toward a big finish at around 15:50. Yep, intensity building around 16:30, then it eases off around 17:00 as we round out this nice epic. Well done!

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

A very strong album from Moon Letters, indeed. I need to check out the first two albums more thoroughly. They have a lot of eclectic influences. These's some psychedelia, some "golden-era" classic prog, some 70s cheese (in a fun way), and even 80's hair-metal in some of Dave Webb's guitar stylings. They bring it all together into their own unique style. Allof the musicians and vocalists are strong. I truly enjoyed that. Not quite instant classic level, but very good; a fun listen. I'll give it a 4.25 out of 5 stars. I have a feeling Moon Letters will continue grow and evolve as a band!

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Thanks! Prog On!

clicked 4, but a little better at 4.25

Letters to the moon

Seattle's progressive scene is well known for its high level bands like Wah Wah, Exit Wound, Spacebag, Panther Attack!, Bone Cave Ballet, and The Autumn Electric. Though not as famous as the city's grunge scene, these bands are highly regarded in progressive circles.

Remember Echolyn when they were good more experimental, before going bourgeois? Well, this band is somewhat similar to that version of Echolyn. They're also quite original, with an eclectic style that ranges from Gentle Giant to Fates Warning and Dream Theater but with a vintage flavor, all in a single song. That's how wide a spectrum this great band can reach.

Moon Letters presents its third full-length after its 2019 debut Until They Feel the Sun and 2022's Thank You for the Future. Now Dark Earth is the latest work from this great band, and it's their darkest to date? yet also their most complex, with outstanding instrumental passages and moments of heightened virtuosity. The band works incredibly well together here; they sound tighter and more mature. The album is tremendously entertaining and well executed. The truth is, I had a great time listening to it. 4.5 out of 5.

This Seattle Washington collective began their story with the 2019 "Until They Feel the Sun" album, an excellent debut that was followed up by the equally interesting "Thank you from the Future" in 2022. The veteran crew has remained solidly stable, composed of vocalist Michael Trew, guitarist Dave Webb, John Allday on keyboards, Mike Murphy and Kelly Mynes on bass and drum kit respectively. I am the proud owner of all three, though this will be the first review. It should not come as a surprise to any music fan, but Seattle certainly has a rather legendary musical heritage from Jimi Hendrix, via Heart to all the obvious grunge groups. There must be something in the air, or in Seattle's case in the rainwater. The psychedelic tendency probably stems from the turbulent weather that stretch of land is famous for. One of the main characteristics of Moon Letters is their insistence on originality, though obviously wearing storied influences on their sleeves. They also possess that wonderful prog ability to transition on a dime into sonic variations that defy the laws of gravity, infuse vocal harmonies at the most opportune moment (generally, smack in the middle of a storm) and sprinkle occasional doses of rawness, technical groove, snippet soloing , Zappa- esque controlled insanity as well as various implements around the kitchen sink. Prepare yourself for the unexpected yet very attractive!

This is expertly described on the eventually tumultuous "Energy of the Heart", an opening piece that navigates the various corridors of experimentation, emitting some lighter tangents and then, others more cavernous and harrowing. The quintet has no qualms of showing their mettle but just like with Uncle Frank, it's all about precise teamwork (like the Mariners, Seahawks, Kraken and Supersonics), no one hogging the spotlight, tight like a lid of marmalade. Trew can scream, Webb tortures his fretboard with splintering riffs, Allday doing his octopus thingy, and the rhythmic duo in a tandem turbocharged frenzy. Halfway through, the shift occurs towards a more Gong-like atmosphere, sweeping towards distant stars, waving to the long gone 'pot head pixies', in restrained admiration. On "Silver Dream", the shade becomes vastly different than on the previous piece, a somewhat pastoral sheen, with a more melodic concentration from Webb's slithering leads , the rolling bass fluttering along, wooing synths ululating and a flower-power vocal that reeks sunshine and beads. The pace gradually picks up steam and then gets catapulted momentarily into profound melancholia, a dejected piano accentuating the sorrow, before returning into the previous maelstrom. Through in a clamoring trumpet blast from Allday and Murphy's shepherding bass furrow, the guitar rasping furiously and tingling when exhausted, choir strings adding a touch of symphonics.

'Full speed ahead' bellowed the captain on "Island of Magic Mirrors", a castaway hymn for the Wilsons of this world, with an endless series of sharp reflections, at times blurred by haste, bullied by ramshackle gusto and then comforted by synthesized panacea. The track raises the urgency to unprecedented levels.

After a brief and much-needed rest period on the delicate and brief "Lonely Moon", the band decides to dive bomb screeching into the deepest abyss of angst and insanity, displaying a technical prowess that will require finding one's jaw on the carpeted floor. "In the Catacombs" is nothing short of a blitzkrieg onslaught on the senses, a raging, fulminating bulldozer that shows no mercy and offers no penitence for its actions.

Capping off this entertaining album, the marathon arrives in the form of a 17 minute+ extravaganza that, like most quality epics, integrates all the intrinsic characteristics that make up the mind set of this collective. "Dawn of the Winterbird" is a tectonic plate shift that will test anyone's balance, so it is recommended to sit comfortably and hopefully numb, and embrace the sounds, like one would visiting the gorgeous state's coastline. To say that the arrangement seeks to take one on a mesmerizing voyage is quite the understatement, as the variations are expertly fused together, introducing from the get-go a drop-dead gorgeous melody, with Trew and the backing vocal bench hitting all the pleasure nodes. Webb adds an intricately woven sizzle just to illuminate the sunrise appearing on the horizon. The unexpected somber retreat into a sorrowful stupor is heartbreaking and majestic, skillfully rebooting the celestial melody espoused previously, 'I would never try to hurt you?' and its warm continuance, the fluid electric guitar embracing the transcendence and in complete harmony with the divine vocal expression. Elegance in the shape of a brief piano etude that serves to ultimately enhance the power and the culminating effect of all the passion displayed! This is a masterful composition that deserves a podium finish on the altar of 2025 prog epics and alone is worth the expense to hunt down and treasure this release.

To paraphrase my great grandmother's idol Barry Manilow: 'Looks like you made it'! LOL . A wonderfully conceived and performed musical adventure, certainly worthy of immediate consideration among the other lunar modules in 2025 orbit, around this dark Earth.

4.5 Tired planets

Moon Letters is John Allday (keyboards, vocals, trumpet), Mike Murphy (bass, vocals, trumpet), Kelly Mynes (drums), Michael Trew (vocals, flute) and Dave Webb (guitar), a quintet from the US Pacific North West formed from a host of other Seattle bands who released their first album Until They Feel the Sun in June 2019.

Until They Feel the Sun is a concept album presented as a song cycle, inspired by seal-human shape- shifting Selkie folklore from Scotland (particularly Orkney, introduced on the opening track Skara Brae and the Shetland Islands), Ireland, the Faroe Islands, and also from Iceland, which adds poignancy to the album artwork, a photograph of Icelandic art model Johannsdottir by Hans H. Bjorstad, while the Selkie pastime of dancing in the moonlight offers an oblique reference to the band's moniker.

The album is really well constructed using a wide variety of styles. The classic melodic alternating lead guitar and keyboard prog of Skara Brae gives rise to a short bucolic section that segues into On the Shoreline and we're treated to some gorgeous flute, tasteful guitar and a brief but excellent analogue sound synthesizer run. Trew's vocals remind me of David Surkamp but they're far more assured throughout, apart from the harmonies on the third track, the psyche-folk What is Your Country where they are deliberately haunting and hint at frailty.

The preceding tracks have been brief but Beware the Finman is the first of four lengthier songs, allowing some nice development and intra-track stylistic variation where we experience moments of electronica, short bursts of hard rock, an odd meter accompanied by Tony Banks-like synth from Selling England or The Lamb Lies Down and expressive guitar soloing. Those Dark Eyes is predominately mysterious with whispered vocals, Canterbury-like electric piano and more Lamb Lies Down synthesizer motifs and sections in 7/4 before a vocal passage and an up-tempo rock/heavy prog work out before the final verse. Another long track, there is a good development of ideas and the instrumental sections are melodic. There's even a neat angular denouement that's reminiscent of Fragile-era Yes leading to the longest piece on the album, Sea Battle. Though the song doesn't appear to be about a physical battle, there are military-style rhythmic patterns that crop up throughout and the vocals and djent-like guitar at the end of the track emphasise a feeling of war. This is offset by sections in 5/4 to make it even more proggy, supplemented by a percussive keyboard section that could have been written by Gentle Giant and distorted guitar that sounds like Martin Barre from Jethro Tull. The Tarnalin is anthemic and possibly most representative of Moon Letter's music with dominant melodies and a clever balance of instrumentation and vocals. There's even an inclusion of trumpets towards the end of the song. It's All Around You is a brief vocal and acoustic guitar interlude before The Red Knight, another anthemic composition with its strident alternating lead guitar and synthesizer lines. This is possibly the most straightforward track on the album because it reminds me of early Asia where the playing is first-class but complexity has been sacrificed for accessibility.

Sunset of Man completes the song cycle, commencing with pastoral flute and reverb-heavy electric piano before wistful vocals and the reprise of the Skara Brae theme. Shifting between up-tempo melodic sections (think of the latter section of Genesis' The Cinema Show) and angular breaks, this is a proggy and entirely suitable end to a very enjoyable album.

It's not quite a four-star album but it's easily worth 3.5 stars

(This review was taken from an article I posted on my website in 2019)

He slept through the night before last, hoping not to wake; but he woke in the morning?yesterday. It was blowing a blizzard. He said, 'I am just going outside and may be some time.' He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since?

With these words, the London-based trio Million Moons presents their second album. "I May Be Some Time" is an impressive work where Ed Thompson, Soloman Radley, and Freddie Harrison create instrumental post-rock that oscillates between cinematic sounds and brutal metal. It's somewhat akin to what Ton Scherpenzeel does on "Virgin Grounds" but mixed with the powerful metal music of early Tool. Who plays what is not specified, but it doesn't need to be. Guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, and drums excellently express the adventurous spirit in the polar region and need no further specification.

However, the seven tracks of the album demand to be discussed individually. The music lies somewhat outside the comfort zone of this website, so I don't want to hide behind generalities.

The first track, Terra Nova, is a rather short composition that begins atmospherically and when more rhythm is added, escalates into a lively piece with many cymbals. The sizzling middle section with its delightful drum breaks could have lasted a few more minutes for me. But well, on to Uncharted Waters. The first few minutes are the most intense that Million Moons has to offer. The raw energy blasts out of the speakers, and I feel comfortable, especially since the gentlemen then rebuild the track towards a compelling prog-metal finale. Barely recovered from this track, Voice Of The Wild appears. The beginning of the track is solid and seems somewhat superfluous to me. It feels forced, especially since the main part of the track brings a broad grin to my face. Here, the band presents an intense blend of Coldplay-like intimacies and fragments of prog-metal.

Million Moons excels in such combinations. The following tracks continue in the same vein. The beauty of post-rock is that you can sometimes feel a change in atmosphere coming from afar. Intruders In A Strange World has such a foreboding prelude. I can appreciate this kind of musical ingenuity. The solemn prog-metal passage of the title track I May Be Some Time is also right up my alley, as is the arpeggio of Endure Overcome with which the track rebuilds. With Aurora, Million Moons weaves a fantastic ending to the album. The tone is reflective for a long time until the piece unfolds into fitting prog-metal. It is repeatedly astonishing to observe how effortlessly the band manages to color their compositions.

Metal enthusiasts will have a great time with the album. The combination with cinematic sounds is, in my opinion, quite unique, and placing the music in the post-rock genre makes everything perfectly coherent.

Orginally posted on www.progenrock.com

Every once in a rare while, a new band you've never heard of confidently grabs your attention and won't let go.

Moon Letters, a humble 5-piece act from Seattle Washington- just independently released their 3rd album. It's interesting how they play with the concept of time in the title: Thank You From the Future because their music easily straddles between the present and the past of prog rock dynasties.

Moon Letters get straight to the point and from the first seconds of the album you are reassured that progressive rock is alive and well, thank you very much. There's no wearing it close to their vests- it's on full display for all to see, and if it doesn't raise any eyebrows, I'd be surprised.

They exploit this genre with great confidence. They keep engaging the listener with their peculiar fresh energy and a seemingly boundless reservoir of creativity and originality. Nothing stale about this collection of 7 songs, despite the fact that there's plenty of winks at the prog traditions that they are undoubtedly steeped in.

Each song is packed with tasty and quirky instrumental sections but there's no conflict with the singing. Three members are credited with vocals, and Michael Trew takes the lead position, also playing the flute. His voice reminded me a bit of Saga's Michael Saddler but I'm not sure who else to compare him to. Like everyone in the band, he's very talented at what he does and fits the whole of the band's sound perfectly. He has a unique and dramatic presence at times. As far as the lyrics, the official bio says 'the album's lyrics explore personal growth, the future of the world, and sci-fi imaginations of the space age.' (Right up my alley..)

If they ever have a hit song, it will be of the Bohemian Rhapsody variety. Moon Letters are relentlessly progressive. At times the music is a bit frenetic, but it's part of their overall charm. They don't sit still or repeat themselves. When I listen to the album I definitely feel like I'm listening to a 'band' - in the proper sense of the word. For example, like the unmistakeable chemistry you feel when listening to a band like The Doors. If there's an epic-ness to this band, it's less connected to the production and more about the enchanting songwriting. There are hints of psychedelic in some parts of songs, but it's not a dominant flavour.

Listening to Thank you From the Future reminded me a little of discovering Yes' Fragile for the first time- it covers many bases of emotions and mysteries and has a unique fingerprint.

There's not much to fault when 50 years after prog was invented, a new band sounds so familiar and yet can challenge and engage you with its' original and cohesive sound.

One of the real joys of being around the scene for so long is that I am still contacted by "new" bands who ask me if I would be interested in hearing some of their music, which is how I am now listening to the latest release by Seattle- based quintet Moon Letters. They were formed in 2016 by Dave Webb (guitar), Michael Trew (vocals, flute), Kelly Mynes (drums), Mike Murphy (bass, vocals) and John Allday (keyboards, vocals). Their debut album, 'Until They Feel the Sun', (which was produced by Barrett Jones, (Foo Fighters)), garnered positive reviews and their performance at Seaprog 2019 helped secure a spot at RoSfest 2020. It took a while for them to return with their second album, but now we have 'Thankyou From The Future', which this time was produced by Robert Cheek (Band of Horses).

It is as if the last 40 years has not happened, as we are firmly in the Seventies with some wonderful Mellotrons in the background, and a very retro feel indeed. They are the type of band where one can easily concentrate on just one aspect and then say that is the most important, as every person involved has such a major impact on the overall sound. I have seen them likened to early Spock's Beard in some reviews, but for me that is more about using some of the same influences musically, yet having the togetherness and drama which makes 'The Light' so compelling. Gentle Giant are a huge influence, particularly with the vocals and the interplay, while Yes have also had their part to play, especially with the keyboards, but the guitar has more of a hard rock presence which takes them in a different direction to both.

It is an exciting and vibrant release, one which does not overstay its welcome with a total playing time of less than 42 minutes (so would happily fit on one side of a TDK-D90, as did all the best albums back in the day), and seven songs with nothing too short or overtly long. This is an immediate and compelling album which only gets better the more time it is played, and one can only hope they get the attention they deserve within the scene as this is a delight from beginning to end.

Moon Letters are the first of my fellow Seattleites to be featured on my blog. I've seen them live a handful times, and they put on a fantastic show. I was introduced to them when they opened for Pinkish Black at the show with the most confusing lineup that I've ever personally been to. (The four bands played retro-progressive rock, Bulgarian folk, punk, and spacy gothic rock.)

This group, like many in the contemporary progressive rock scene, heavily base their sounds on the giants of the genre. Yes and Genesis are their two clearest influences, but the songwriting is original enough for them to rise above the territory of schlocky knock-offs and stand on their own as a distinct band.

Until They Feel the Sun is Moon Letters' full-length debut, having previously cut a four-song demo. It opens with "Skara Brae" and wastes no time establishing this band's modus operandi. This brief instrumental sees guitar and synthesizer harmonizing for a grandiose main theme backed by Mellotron-sounding strings. Countering this relatively aggressive cut are the ensuing folky songs "On the Shoreline" and "What Is Your Country". The former features lovely vocal interplay and idyllic flutework, while the latter is almost fully a cappella.

"Beware the Finman" is one of the heaviest songs on the album, opening with a brief, swirling maelstrom of guitars and drums. The verses, though, have an almost-Marillion-like feel. The guitar and synth tones used here sound very 1980s. This song, like many of the extended tracks on this album, is mostly instrumental, but the soloing feels purposeful, and it's only on rare occasions where I think they could have trimmed it down a little.

"Sea Battle" is another highlight. The marching, martial theme suits it perfectly, pushing the music along and maintaining high levels of tension. Even as the guitar and synthesizer perform twisting, jazzy solos, the rhythm section remains steady and propulsive. Keys are used both to make quieter moments feel more intimate and to augment the drama of more intense passages.

"The Tarnalin" is probably my least-favorite song on the album. It certainly isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it does feel somewhat meandering and even unnecessary. Aside from this track, my overall gripes are quite few and nothing out-of-the-ordinary. There's the odd solo here or there they could have scaled back for the sake of conciseness, but it's rare for me to not have that gripe with a progressive rock album.

The album closes strong. "The Red Knight" is a charging hard-rocker that evokes Kansas's early output. It's quite theatrical with its big riffs and layered vocals, and the soloing which closes the song is top-notch. The closing "Sunset of Man" then opens with gentle electric piano and flute before exploding into a reprise of the main theme from "Skara Brae". This bombast segues to a moment of jazzy soloing, followed by floating space rock, before eventually coming back around to the bombast. This might sound unfocused and scattershot, but everything flows together naturally.

I'd been looking forward to this album ever since I first saw the band at that weird concert, and it doesn't disappoint. Plenty of prog's classic tropes are on proud display here, but the compositions are strong and original enough that it doesn't bog the album down.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/07/07/album-review-moon-letters-until-they-feel-the-sun/

TYFTF is the second studio album by American Progressive rock band Moon Letters. The main characters seem to be Michael Trew on vocals, flute, guitars; Dave Webb on guitars; John Allday on keyboards and synthesizers; Mike Murphy on bass and vocals; and Kelly Mynes on drums and percussion.

Moon Letters have a unique sound, a blend of Rush, Echolyn and Discipline, but with the pop sensibilities on steroids! All the influences are there, the dark ones, the melodic ones, the complex and the less complex? and some virtuosity too. A really solid record that will entertain from the get-go all the way through the last notes, a journey that, without necessarily been conceptual, it does sound like a whole when listened as a whole. I also hear some Hackett-like guitar arrangements and a Bruford jazzy groove, and even some Gentle Giant corky complexity. A mix of space rock and symphonic prog here and there, all very well crafted and executed? not an everyday listen by all means, but a wonderful curiosity for all Prog lovers, specially those who cherish more modern banda such as Magic Pie, The Dear Hunter, Pattern Seeking Animals, and so on. My personal highlights are:

- The Hrossa

- Isolation and Foreboding

- Fate of the Alacorn

- Yesterday is Gone

Lots off artists barking at the MOON these days. I can't keep track of how many MOON bands there are any longer! There's Moon Safari of course in the prog world but so many more like Moon Goons, Moon Duo, Moon Tan, Moon Phantoms and countless others. Here's yet another one of the newer harbingers of modern retro prog, the Seattle based MOON LETTERS. This band doesn't just copy and paste its prog ethos from the past but rather has constructed an interesting new take on taking something old and reinventing it to suit a newer audience in the modern day and age all the while tamping down the tones and timbres to fit into the old school golden age prog world. So far MOON LETTERS founded and led by guitarist Dave Webb released the debut "Until They Feel The Sun" in 2019 and after receiving warranted kudos for an interesting retro-prog stylistic approach, MOON LETTERS continues and ups its game on its second release THANK YOU FROM THE FUTURE.

This is my first exposure to MOON LETTERS but from what i've read there has been a significant improvement from the debut. This album of seven tracks is retro down to the 41-minute playing time and features elements from many classic prog bands. There's an interesting symphonic prog sound reminiscent of Yes at times and Kansas at others. There are also playful early Spock's Beard vocal antics, Gentle Giant time signature gymnastics and occasional King Crimson styled rocking out. However the one artist that comes to mind more often than others is that there is a clear Mars Volta thing going on here. The juxtaposition of musical elements with the punk rocker's intensity in fully fueled prog time signature splendor was the winning formula for albums like "De-Loused in the Comatorium" and "Francis The Mute." Luckily MOON LETTERS succeeds in finding its own voice.

MOON LETTERS was formed six years ago in 2016 and features some prog veterans including guitarist Dave Webb (Spacebag, Wah Wah Exit Wound), lead vocalist and flautist Michael Trew (Autumn Electric), drummer Kelly Mynes (Panther Attack!, Bone Cave Ballet), bassist Mike Murphy (Authentic Luxury) and keyboardist John Allday (Chaos and Cosmos). The debut "Until They Feel The Sun" was warmly received by the prog world and if it's in the same vein as this new release i can tell why! Add to that a really cool album cover and i'm all in. This is what i call fun prog, that is prog that engages in all the check the box elements like time signature frenzies, extended compositional fortitude and improvisation up the ying yang yet without scarifying that playful melodic sing-songy style that made the 70s bands so cool.

If i had to compare MOON LETTERS sounds like what you would get if you mixed The Mars Volta with Spock's Beard and Magic Pie without really sounding like any of the above but a trained ear can surely detect the influences embedded in every cadence. There have been comparisons to Rush and even Dream Theater but MOON LETTERS is a bit more quirky than Rush and not heavy enough to squeak into the world of progressive metal. Nevertheless there are some Dream Theater keyboard dynamics and as far as excellent musicianship is concerned MOON LETTERS does have the chops to sit side by side with some of the aforementioned greats. What's the most cool about THANK YOU FROM THE FUTURE is the unpredictability of the song structures. While they maintain an infectious melodic accessibility, the band breaks into surprising changes in the regularly scheduled program therefore this is amazingly cool at times!

If you love album's like Spock Beard's debut "The Light" then this is right up your alley. The production is professional crafted and the creativity is firing on all pistons. The musicians are quite talented and showcase an amazing adaptability to improvising in unorthodox ways while holding down the main melodic theme. What's also cool is that no instrument or style is dominant. THANK YOU FROM THE FUTURE is truly the musical equivalent of a kaleidoscope in splendiferous coloration. Definitely more retro than modern sounding but the creativity in how the band revisits classic sounds is nothing short of impressive. Looking forward to more from MOON LETTERS.