Bandcamp Undercover: Moon Machine – Left to Wander [SINGLE]

By Prog Sphere on December 5, 2020

Moon Machine is a Boston-based band founded by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Eric Hochwald, whom we previously covered on the website back in July. The trio, comprised of keyboardist Jonathan Sirota, drummer Angel Castillo and Hochwald, has launched single “Left to Wander” in November.

Moon Machine is a very musically interesting band. “Left to Wander” makes me think of Porcupine Tree’s Lightbulb Sun because of its “quiet intensity”. Porcupine Tree’s album has a sort of divine subtlety to it that belies its incredible complexity. It’s a rhythmic masterpiece of delicate complexity. “Left to Wander” is similar in this way, but not musically. It achieves this same wonderful feeling via completely different methods, and this leads me to believe it was unintentional. That said, the fact that they achieved it at all is wonderful, in my eyes.

The quiet intensity on the song comes from the juxtaposition of piano over the driving beat of the rhythm section. To complete the sound, we have the incredibly spacey guitars and ethereal voice of Hochwald. The music is composed so subtly that it manages to build to a thundering crescendo without the listener even realizing it. Once you finally get it, waves of sound are crashing over you and suddenly fall down again.

Musically I wouldn’t call this pure progressive rock, but spiritually and aesthetically it couldn’t be proggier. It has progressive rock’s unpretentious “coolness” seeping throughout, just welcoming you in. It’s very spacey in a way though, somewhat like the various forms of the genre.

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