Moonchy & Tobias

Moonchy & Tobias

Brace yourself when entering the disorienting world of Moonchy & Tobias, where churning rock textures created by Todd Tobias are the landscape within which vocalist Pat Moonchy runs riot, warping her voice into every recess and shape available. Skirting the boundary between fairytale and nightmare, the angular architecture of the music is softened and stretched at every juncture. Moonchy & Tobias create a transformative musical experience in which giddy tangents abound.

Discography

 

Moonchy & Tobias III


October 2020

On their third collaborative album, vocalist Pat Moonchy and multi-instrumentalist/producer Todd Tobias delve deeper into the shadowy recesses of their intoxicating sound, creating an immersive soundtrack to our most uncanny nightmares. Moonchy’s primal vocals, mostly sung in Latin, thread through Tobias’s nocturnal atmospheres like smoke. As Moonchy explains, “When I sing in Latin it feels like discovering the details of ancient lives lost in time.” There’s a definite sense that something latent and primordial is being summoned – yet the full extent of its power is cloaked in mystery.

In an unintentional parallel, the album that III most resembles is Portishead’s majestic Third, which creates and inhabits its own haunted space. Where Moonchy & Tobias differ is in employing a more rustic approach to songcraft, while still evoking an exquisite sense of atmosphere. There’s an undeniable melancholy across these 12 tracks, but it never feels cloying, instead leavened by a poised theatricality and sense of play. The midnight hour has a new transportive soundtrack.

 

Atmosfere


18 October 2019

After the exhilarating psychedelic ride of their acclaimed debut, Moonchy & Tobias’s new album Atmosfere is more subdued and subtly intoxicating. Multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias has crafted a series of bright, labyrinthine soundscapes within which vocalist Pat Moonchy luxuriantly weaves. While the songs on their debut were sung in an imaginary language, here Moonchy sings in her native Italian. Atmosfere feels like a sun-dappled morning after Moonchy & Tobias’s intoxicating dark night of the soul. It’s the perfect companion – but also a succinct and compelling stand-alone that is as beautiful as it is mysterious.

 

Moonchy & Tobias


2nd November 2018

Brace yourself when entering the disorienting world of Moonchy & Tobias, where churning rock textures created by Todd Tobias are the landscape within which vocalist Pat Moonchy runs riot, warping her voice into every recess and shape available. Whether the pounding bass of ‘Juu Ichi’, the bubbling submarine atmospheres of ‘Vertigo Trail’, or the percussion and fuzz carnival of single ‘Une Saison En Enfer’, Moonchy and Tobias create a transformative musical experience in which giddy tangents abound. Skirting the boundary between fairytale and nightmare, the angular architecture of the music is softened and stretched at every juncture.

Biography

Moonchy & Tobias pairs Italian vocalist Pat Moonchy with American instrumentalist Todd Tobias. Moonchy is one-half of the experimental band Sothiac, plays in duos alongside trombonist Angelo Contini and jazz drummer Lino Liguori, in the Tai-No Orchestra, and with German krautrock pioneers Faust. Ohio native Tobias is a long-time collaborator with Robert Pollard (Guided by Voices), and provided the musical backing to Pollard’s vocals in the freak-rock trio Circus Devils. Tobias has also released a series of themed instrumental albums under his own name, and has released a duo album with Hidden Shoal labelmate Chloe March.

News

Reviews

  • “Moonchy & Tobias III” Reveiwed at Here Comes The Flood

    “Ohio based experimentalist Todd Tobias and Italian avant-garde singer Pat Moonchy go in at the deep end on their third album, taking cues from Portishead’s lauded Third. A sense of foreboding is eminent inn the soundscapes and by using Latin it could be mistaken for a gospel record, albeit one where art is the thing that offers mankind comfort and a sense for beauty.

    Most of the tracks move slowly – Frangit inches forward at snail’s pace – making Moonchy & Tobias III a listening experience that is an oasis in a sped-up world wherein everything is moving so fast that details and nuances are lost. This music is best experienced in solitude wearing a set of premium headphones.”

    – Here Comes The Flood

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  • “Moonchy & Tobias III” Reviewed at Louder Than War

    “This is the third record from ex GBV man, Todd Tobias and Italian chanteuse Pat Moonchy, and it’s possibly their best.

    Moonchy & Tobias III is certainly the perfect soundtrack to these discombobulating times. Soundtracking the vacuum with their elegant psychodramas, things start off as they mean to go on with the mini opera of ‘Dubium’; Pat Moonchy’s suggestive vocal swoops (doubtless played for maximum effect) give extra tension to the strange rhythmic pattern that both backdrops and propels the piece.

    Second track ‘Petali Caduti’ is also driven in a notable way, this time by a glorious stomping beat – is a voyage through a strange landscape. The audio version of a Dora Carrington painting? It could well be so. Third track ‘Sericum’ (Silk) is the poppiest and most fully developed of the tracks, part 80s Goth pop, part modern classical tidbit. You get the feeling that the more standard structure of ‘Sericum’ is a gateway moment, allowing the LP to explore other pastures later on. It’s not a reversion to a “state of normal” though, far from it. We have some lyrics in the booklet, as proof: “the silk of affluence/bites the young lovers”…

    By now you should get the picture. Mystery and mood are our guides. Many of the tracks on Moonchy & Tobias III are presented mythically, as if coloured slides in a magic lantern. Also, the subtle rhythms and changes of tempo in each piece – and the ever-changing vocal conceits adopted by Moonchy – give the listening experience a peculiarly weightless quality. Whilst listening to tracks like the ‘Frangit’, which like to play compressed sounds off against soaring vocals, it’s like being submerged in the rhythms of the tide. This idea of listening to the sound of an ever-evolving dream, or midnight swim is accentuated by the cover; the moon appearing through clouds. Consequently, the listener could maybe feel unable, or unwilling, to escape this huge, dark, mysterious netherworld that slowly builds up around them. Piranesian, even? Maybe.

    But don’t think Moonchy & Tobias III is an exercise in making a sugar-coated dystopia. The record is an arresting listen and an experience to be grabbed and shaped by the listener. There are some killer cuts to hold on to in this shadowland. ‘Petali Caduti’ is one, and ‘Limbi’ is definitely another; a gloriously vampish track given form by the rich operatic vocals, especially those jumps up and down the scale. Once or twice things become like Cocteau Twins’ glorious sleepathon Victorialand, especially ‘Dies Festus’, ‘Dum’ and ‘Unum’ which are all gently rocked – if not tucked up in bed – by slow, softly-pressed piano passages.

    I think they should give David Lynch a ring without delay.”

    – Louder Than War

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  • Moonchy & Tobias “Atmosfere” Reviewed at Festival Info

    [Translated via Google]

    “Pat Moonchy is an Italian vocalist (the word singer does her short) who is known in the experimental kraut rock / drone (Sothiac, Faust). American Todd Tobias is a multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work with Guided by Voices. On this album he takes care of the entire instrumentation. Where their debut Moonchy & Tobias sounds more experimental, psychedelic and unfinished, their successor Atmosfere has become more accessible. This is partly due to the production, but also the fact that Moonchy now sings in Italian instead of a self-made language.

    The album is a collection of quiet soundclouds, which are built up by acoustic guitar supplemented with electronics. Moonchy’s vocals create a dreamy whole. She can sound childish Asian, like on “Dall” Occhio “, but also emotionally threatening like on” Pioggia e Sale “. The quality and intensity of her voice gives these elongated melodies of Tobias a certain direction, without attributing them to an unambiguous genre. For example, “Velo” sounds most like an indie-pop song, while “Altri Se” gets something classic. It is precisely this mix of different styles that keeps you listening. Especially the monotone “Occasione”, the art-rock of “Senso Del Tempo” and the pop of “Grumo” will stay with you. It is a pity that some songs are occasionally cut seemingly casually.

    Welcome to the world of Moonchy & Tobias: it is one that continues to surprise in an almost intoxicating way. When you listen to this album, you wonder why it took so long for them to find each other. Rarely does a duo sound so well attuned to each other: you hear the mutual respect in their search for new sounds and atmospheric images.”

    – Festival Info

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  • Moonchy & Tobias “Atmosfere” Reviewed at hifi.nl

    [Translated via Google]

    “Atmosfere is the second album that multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias releases together with Pat Moonchy via the Utrecht record label Tiny Room Records. In just half an hour the duo gives a rather unusual, dreamy look into a surreal world that somehow feels pleasant to the listener.

    Todd Tobias is no stranger anymore. The fifty-year-old from Ohio, USA has gained international fame not only for his own work but also for his role within the band Guided By Voices and his work with Robert Pollard. Pat Moonchy, a born Italian, is less well-known in our country, but still has a good record of merit. She is half of the experimental band Sothiac, plays in duos alongside trombonist Angelo Contini and jazzdrumer Lino Liguori, is a member of the Tai-No Orchestra and not to mention German krautrock pioneers Faust.

    After the self-titled debut of Moonchy & Tobias (which was released via Tiny Room and Hidden Shoal in 2018), the duo puts down a more balanced and unambiguous whole on Atmosfere. Instead of using fictional language, Moonchy sings in her native language. In fact, she takes on a leading role, because although the modest playing style of Todd Tobias creates tension and atmosphere, there is an all-determining vocal style on the album. The childish, almost Asian-looking voice of Pat takes some getting used to, but gives the twelve short tracks a unique sound and experience.

    Atmospheric is full of influences of the present and the past. Occasione sounds rather retro, with a nod to the seventies when it comes to the musical interpretation. Velo is again pure contemporary folk, while a song like Dall’Occhio has dreamy pop influences with a “trippy” undertone and the vocals are sometimes even filled in with voices. Modesty, small compositions and even a kind of intimacy are terms that recur on my notebook. And that is perhaps also the best description for this work. Unfortunately not all tracks are equally convincing and sometimes the duo seems to be looking for coherence individually. I suspect that the recordings were not made in the same studio. In addition, the header voice that Moonchy occasionally uses is not entirely pure or pleasant to listen to.

    Still, Moonchy & Tobias manage to deliver a fairly unique album with Atmosfere. Partly thanks to the conscious choice to draw the listener’s attention to the somewhat alienating, intimate Italian vocals with relatively little trimmings and rather elongated, repetitive melody lines. As if on vacation you get a reading from the diary of your host’s daughter’s daughter, where you can read everything from the childish emotion transmission without understanding the words. You feel a bit uncomfortable and at the same time kind of honored that it is shared with you.

    All this makes Atmosfere a strange duck, which is further enhanced by the way in which some tracks end. Open, namely. The sound is appropriate, although the dynamics vary per track. A conscious choice, presumably. The second album from Moonchy & Tobias is really one for a select group and also offers room for development in the future. Yet this can be a nice discovery for those drizzly days that we can call winter in our country.”

    – Hifi NL

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  • Moonchy & Tobias “Atmosfere” Reviewed at Keys and Chords

    [Translated via Google]

    “The neopsyched indie rock duo Moonchy & Tobias was founded in 2018. The Italian Pat Moonchy sings, while the American Todd Tobias provides the music on all kinds of instruments. This is their second album, after their debut in 2018. Moonchy is half of the experimental band Sothiac, plays in duos alongside trombonist Angelo Contini and jazz drummer Lino Liguori, but also in the Tai-No Orchestra, and with the German krautrock pioneers Faust . Tobias has been working with Robert Pollard (Guides by Voices) for a long time and delivered the music for Pollard’s voice in the freak rock trio Circus Devils. He also released a number of instrumental albums, and a duet album with Chloe March. On this new disc they bring 12 short tracks, some instrumental, others sung again. Moonchy sings in Italian, sometimes sounds rarefied, and it all feels like dreamy pop. Atmospheric and somewhat mysterious is the best description for it.”

    – Keys and Chords

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  • Moonchy & Tobias “Atmosfere” Reviewed at De Subjectivisten

    [Translated from the original Dutch via Google]

    “One year ago the album Moonchy & Tobias brings together two special musicians, namely the Italian vocalist Pat Moonchy and the American multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias. Moonchy has already released music under her own name, but can also be found in Sothiac, Doubleganger, One Lip 5, Pat Moonchy Trio and Tai No-Orchestra. Tobias in turn already has a broad and rich musical past with bands like 4 Coyotes, Brother Earth, Clouds Forming Crowns, Circus Devils (with Robert Pollard from Guided By Voices), Ricked Wicky and Psycho And The Birds. In addition, he does not leave himself unassumed in the solo field, since from 2012 albums will appear under his own name with some regularity and last year also one with Chloë March. Now Moonchy and Tobias are back with Atmosfere, of course released in the idiosyncratic, fun micro-label Tiny Room, where they sail a different course. No longer that whimsical mix of neoclassical, ambient, wave, avant-garde, gothic, art, post and psychedelic rock, but a subtle singer-songwriter sound. Guitar strumming thickened with moody electronics often form the basis on which Moonchy can show off her singing skills, which somehow sound like Chinese. Nevertheless, she also makes a more subdued sound. Where the music at first glance sounds a bit more ‘ordinary’, they make a profit here with the melancholy and mysterious atmosphere. That again results in a special (and) beautiful album, for which I also can’t easily come up with comparison material.”

    - De Subjectivisten

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  • Moonchy & Tobias “Atmosfere” Reviewed at Indebanvan

    [Translated from the Dutch via Google. Read the original here.]

    “Moonchy & Tobias is the musical collaboration between multi-instrumentalist and singer Pat Todd Tobias Moonchy. On the debut was sung in a made-up language. On this second album “Atmosfere” This again appears to be the case. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    Moonchy & Tobias chooses Italian
    Italian Pat Moonchy sings this time in her native language. Not that it matters. In fact nothing to like what you do in the holiday gets it.

    Pat Moonchy takes you back into the past. When there were no devices with plugs and those endless conversations conducted with each other. After all, they had nothing. For the album “Atmosfere” is that you just have nothing else to do than to listen to tell Moonchy & Tobias. Soft guitar and delicate vocals bring peace.

    Brazilian influences
    It starts with the repetitive, instrumental ‘Arcabaleno. Title track “Atmosfere” subsequently many Brazilian influences from the school of Antônio Carlos Jobim. On “Lo Sguardo ‘is again the repetitive work of Todd Tobias that intoxicates.

    “Occasione ‘is slightly firmer and more worldly. You feel you are in the Middle East. These are influences that Todd Tobias does stop more often in his music. ‘Velo’ in Italian has a very different meaning. This duo casts a veil. ‘Amico’ sounds a lot friendlier ears.

    Led Zeppelin
    “Dall’Occhio ‘is Italian blues that I’m crazy enough to think all the time Led Zeppelin. That does not fall on deaf ears. Because in “Senso Del Tempo Moonchy and Tobias do their reputation as art rock duo honor. The song that most lingers is’ Pioggia e Sale “. A chilling melody, sung with emotion. On “Grumo” is even some hit potential of admiring. And so there is still plenty to explore on this wonderful album.”

    – Indebanvan

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  • Moonchy & Tobias “Atmosfere” Reviewed at Music Won’t Save You

    [Translated from the Italian via Google. Read the original here.]

    “On the sidelines of the well-established one with Chloë March, Todd Tobias recently embarked on another collaboration with a female voice. In the case of Pat Moonchy, the historic name of the Milanese avant-garde who in turn presents an extremely varied and stimulating curriculum, the meeting had already resulted in a shared homonymous work published last year, which is now immediately followed in “Atmosfere “.

    While the first chapter of Moonchy & Tobias presented a more markedly experimental imprint, conveyed by the murky sound environments of the American artist and the deconstructed vocalizations of Moonchy, his immediate following denotes as a first novelty the presence of real texts, scanned in Italian in the form of declamations or harmonic movements, not always easily intelligible, that form a whole with instrumental substrates ranging from a surprising acoustic psychedelia to impervious twists under the sign of static electricity or liquid tension with wave contours post-punk.

    The fresco drawn by the twelve short passages of “Atmosfere” outlines a dystopian universe populated by ghostly echoes, but also at times softened by evident psych-folk nuances that, in particular in “Dall’occhio” and in the title track, show off a surprisingly flat writing, to balance the most intricate experimental ideas enclosed in a fruition work that is not always easy, but full of stimulating hybridizations of styles and sensibilities.”

    – Music Won’t Save You

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  • Moonchy & Tobias “Atmosfere” Reviewed at Here Comes The Flood

    “Ohio based experimentalist Todd Tobias and Italian avant-garde singer Pat Moonchy have teamed up for a collaborative Moonchy & Tobias album. Their self-titled debut was a nice surprise, a meeting of musical minds that left the listener wanting more.

    Atmosfere picks up the quiet intensity of the debut, meandering soundscapes with Moonchy as a guide to a pastoral, almost childlike world. All lyrics are in Italian, but there is no need to be fluent in that language in order to get the gist of the words. Tobias plays a kot of acoustic guitar on the tracks and the tinkling sound of that instrument is like a second guide. Pick one to follow or change mid-song to find something new and interesting. All tracks are invitations to dream and wonder.

    Moonchy & Tobias are already working on the next record. According to Tobias that one “will be more rocking and more weird”.”

    – Here Comes The Flood

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  • Moonchy & Tobias “Atmosfere” Reviewed at Louder Than War

    “It’s one of life’s luxuries to inform others about a record that alters your outlook on life; even if the altered state is fleeting. This latest release by Tiny Room (it actually is a tiny room, somewhere in the Dutch province of Utrecht) is one such. Reader, it’s glorious.

    Tiny Room have built up an impressive catalogue without looking to blow their own trumpet. The label likes to exert an influence in a quiet manner, and much of the music released on the label has the knack of creeping up on the listener unawares. This release by Todd Tobias and Pat Moonchy – much more reflective than their first – is a case in point.

    Tobias will be known to many for his work with Guided By Voices and Bob Pollard. Singer Pat Moonchy is probably less well known but it is her voice that guides the spirit of this record. And regardless of who knows who, Atmosfere is possibly one of the most seductive releases this year, perfect for a day spent staring out of the window. It’s also a record that marks a step away from the duo’s more uptempo debut.

    The instrumental opener, ‘Aecolbaleno’ paves the way for a set of songs that tread the line between the Gothic and hippy pastoral. Introspective, elusive and supremely trippy, this all-too-short release has an undeniable vibe of late 60s, early 70s European folk about it. ‘Lo Sguardo’ could, by virtue of the deliberately reedy vocal line, be one of those trippy preludes from a Gong record whilst ‘In Tasca’ starts off like a Withüsser and Westrüpp record before once again channelling Gilli Smyth for a bout of musical landscaping. Regardless of stylistic concerns it’s a very warm-feeling record, likely to put you in an empathetic haze.

    The songs are superb, relying on melody line and simple accompaniments for the most part. Only now and again – such as with ‘Amico’ – does the instrumentation broaden out. Otherwise we get glorious bedroom folk driven by a patiently picked guitar line, such as the title track and ‘Dall’occhio’. The LP’s highlight, a glorious one-two of ‘Senso Del Tempo’ and ‘Pioggia E Sale’, are a pairing of glorious Gothic nursery rhymes; both need very little time to leave their respective imprints on the listener’s senses. In fact if we were to find a grain of sand in the vaseline, it’s the way the last track ‘Altri Sé’ slides off, almost without a goodbye. But maybe that’s the clever trick to get you to play it all over again.”

     

    – Louder Than War

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Artist Photos

 

Music Videos


Licensing

The music of Moonchy & Tobias is available for licensing (master & sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please contact us with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.

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