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

 

 

Wild Eye


December 2022

Moonchy & Tobias’s new album Wild Eye runs ritual threads throughout its tracklist like tingles of deja vu. Nocturnal and unnerving, it unfolds like an intoxicating fever dream, ebbing and flowing in shadowy splendour.

The title track’s intro and epilogue counterbalance a pulsing tribal bedrock with Pat Moonchy’s shimmering voice. Single ‘Shangri La’ and its reprise could well have soundtracked James Hilton’s Lost Horizon, its strident strings and horns capturing the listener in fevered rapture. ‘The Goldsmith’ feels like a Quaalude-infused cross between a Western and a horror movie thanks to its low-slung arpeggiated guitar. ‘Mirage’ has an intoxicating majesty, stumbling like a drunken Cocteau Twins. ‘Numilla’ is similarly off kilter, almost falling over with every step, yet somehow assured in its ultimate destination.

 
 

 

Golem


March 2022

Golem sees Moonchy & Tobias boldly embarking on a treacherous journey through haunted, psychedelic territory. Moonchy is the Medicine Woman in this dark rainforest, with Tobias dredging up waterlogged sound from the swamp and refracting it through a hall of mirrors. While M&T’s widely acclaimed previous albums prioritized atmosphere over rhythmic intensity, Golem stirs in a heady dose of grinding bass and guitar textures familiar to fans of 90s bands such as Girls Against Boys and Morphine.

The album hurtles into view with ‘Zoas’, tapping into the lurching alt-rock magic of Captain Beefheart or Scary Monsters-era Bowie. First single, ‘Potio Medicata’ leans into an insistent Middle-Eastern flavored ostinato, melodically infused and mesmerizing, whilst ‘Mintea’ counterbalances its strident guitar riffing and joyous cowbell with Moonchy’s eerie vocal.

 
 

 

Venus Mirror


June 2021

Venus Mirror is a buoyant follow-up to the brooding, nocturnal atmospheres of the duo’s 2020 release Moonchy & Tobias III, the luminous, soothing Venus Mirror is infused with an almost tropical sway. On ‘Specchio Di Venere’, Tobias’ modulated synth, tuned percussion and acoustic guitar paint a widescreen scene, over which Moonchy’s vocal traces a mesmerizing wordless melody. On the other six tracks, Moonchy sings both in her native Italian and in ancient Latin, her voice soaring and graceful in turns. In the single ‘Delibo,’ the warm major sevenths of jazz are chilled by a shivering wind. ‘Leniter’ brings the EP to a fittingly ambiguous close, setting the listener adrift on see-sawing, reverb-drenched piano lines.

 
 

 

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 “Golem” Reviewed at Radioaktiv

    “Over the centuries, mythology has not lost that charm that places it almost a notch above history itself, as if through tales and legends the events that happened became even more spectacular and interesting. In the plots of the Jewish one there is an imaginary anthropomorphic Dgure called golem, a clay giant, servant of his father and defender of the Jewish people.

    It is said that Rabbi Jehuda Löw in the synagogue in the Jewish quarter of Prague had hidden his golem in the attic and that the creature is still there. A dark story that takes us to a parallel world, the same one that is discovered by listening to Moonchy & Tobias .

    The duo formed by the Italian vocalist Pat Moonchy and the American multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias generated their Golem to be released in March 2022 for Hidden Shoal and Tiny Room Records . There is no trace of clay, but of a lot of psychedelic rock that has always characterized the collaboration between the two artists.

    Twelve tracks, including some in Italian such as Carnevale and Golem , in which the duo’s skills are widely developed: on the one hand the vocal ability of Pat Moonchy, on the other the solid and reDned structure of Todd Tobias’ musical experiments.

    The fusion between the two is now consolidated in a relationship in which no one serves the other, but in which they accompany each other decisively in inspiration and surrender. From the history of the golem we like to think that they took, in fact, not the relationship between the two Dgures (who generates and who is generated), but that sort of mystical magic, fear and amazement at the same time, depth and strength.

    The record maintains the same intensity throughout its path, in short, it never gives up, not even for a track.
    From Zoas to Jack and The Beanstalk evocative songs follow one another that almost celebrate magical rituals, sacred and profane at the same time, a particular dress that Moonchy & Tobias wear to perfection. The golem is free at last.”

    – Radioaktiv

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  • Moonchy & Tobias “Golem” Reviewed at De Subjectivisten

    “Small but nice they say? Now that certainly applies to the great micro label Tiny Room Records, where one original act after another appears. The duo Moonchy & Tobias is living proof of this, who will debut in 2018 with the eponymous debut written entirely in Japanese. Then two more albums follow. The pair consists of vocalist Pat Moonchy (Sothiac, Doubleganger, One Lip 5, Pat Moonchy Trio, Tai No-Orchestra) and American multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias (4 Coyotes, Brother Earth, Clouds Forming Crowns, Circus Devils (with Robert Pollard from Guided By Voices), Ricked Wicky, Psycho And The Birds). In addition, both have also released solo albums. Moonchy often moves into the experimental, dark ambient, avant-garde and noise angle, while Tobias prefers the psychedelic and adventurous rock. Together they bring so much more than the sum of their parts, as cliché as this may sound; but a fact is a fact. They show that once again on their new, fourth album Golem, which has once again been released on Tiny Room. They again bring an inimitable mix of styles, of which alternative rock, stoner, krautrock, avant-garde and psychedelia are certainly a part, but which are not necessarily easy to put your finger on. Moonchy’s vocals are somewhere between Phew, Louisa Lilani, Diamanda Galas and Sainkho Namtchylak, which is already a feast for the ears. Then there is the special musical coloring of Tobias, which makes it completely elusive but extremely intriguing. You can hear music from Primus, Beak>>, Cranes, Kyuss, Jack Or Jive, Pain Teens and Deerhoof, albeit that their approach is truly unique. But judge for yourself via the link below. Anyway, I think they’re great!” [translated via Google].

    – De Subjectivisten

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  • Moonchy & Tobias ‘Foglia di Te’ Reviewed at Tonic Grain

    “The duo of vocalist Pat Moonchy and instrumentalist Todd Tobias have released the magical EP “Venus Mirror” that includes a stunning track called “Foglia di Te.”

    The song title translates from Italian as “Tea Leaf,” and it features beautiful lyrics and an immersive, fairytale-like soundscape. The tender guitar and careful rhythm section accompany the listener along the way. The enchanting synths create a fantastic, cinematic atmosphere. And the lovely vocals unfold in the most delicate, spellbinding performance.”
    – Tonic Grain 

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

    ” ‘When I sing in Latin it feels like discovering the details of ancient lives lost in time.’ A statement by the Italian vocalist Pat Moonchy and representative of the overwhelming atmosphere on the third album. Together with the American multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias, the duo conjures up theatrical images drenched in melancholy and darkness. The use of the dead language Latin accentuates antiquity and impermanence.

    For Pat Moonchy, this collaboration is one of many to test out her classical singing qualities. Under the name Sothiac, the emphasis was more on thin soundscapes and avant-garde in duo with Paul Jolly (sax and bass).  It is therefore nice to hear her in more accessible projects such as with Todd Tobias. A versatile musician and not averse to ambient and psychedelic trance. Menacing soundscapes, oracle vocals and smearing of the vocal cords make Moonchy & Tobias III the ideal soundtracks for horror movies, crime scenes, theater or even experimental dance.

    Let your own imagination work!  ”

    – Keys and Chords

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  • “Moonchy & Tobias III” Reviewed at MPodia

    “III is the title of the new album by the American multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias and the Italian singer Pat Moonchy. It is already the third album in just under three years of this collaboration.

    Cinematic soundscapes
     They both have their own solo careers in quite different genres; where Tobias moves more in the Rock genre, we often find Pat Moonchy in the somewhat dark Ambient corner. Still, the two have been able to complement each other perfectly since the self-titled debut from 2018 and this is already their third album. From the first notes we are transported into those Ambient-like, psychedelic soundscapes that sound almost spooky. It is striking that Pat often opts for the Latin language, which is really very unusual. It gives the already mysterious songs an even darker and more authentic. She herself says: “ When I sing in Latin it feels like discovering the details of ancient lives lost in time. ” Songs like ‘Portus’, ‘Dies Festus’ and ‘Dubium’ evoke almost cinematic images that are drenched in melancholy. If a highlight has to be mentioned, it will be between ‘Petali Caduti’ or ‘Limbi’.

    Final Verdict
    III is an album for the experienced listener. Especially the combination of the sometimes somewhat neoclassical sounding Pat Moonchy and the electronic Ambient-like soundscapes provide an enchanting listening experience. Maybe a bit experimental, but by no means your average album and definitely an album for anyone who wants to listen something “out of the box”. Have fun listening!”

    – MPodia

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

    (Translated via Google)

    “The partnership of the Milanese experimental vocalist Pat Moonchy with the multifaceted orchestrator of alienating atmospheres Todd Tobias is now a stable partnership . On the third album in the space of two years, the ambitious artistic duo continues on the track traced by the previous “ Atmosfere ” (2019), filling sound environments with spectral contours with evocative harmonic contents.

    The choice of Latin as the prevailing language of Moonchy’s vocal evolutions undoubtedly contributes to amplifying the mysterious density of the twelve short snapshots that make up the work, as never before solemn and hieratic, which raise invocations of persuasive restlessness to a night sky, such as the one shown on the cover, between whose menacing shadows are visible diaphanous moon rays. Although largely dotted with dark frequencies and synthetic currents of increasing tension, Tobias’s textures not only reveal atmospheric vapors of surprising warmth but also retract to enhance marked piano lines, on which Moonchy’s declamations are clothed with pronounced lyricism (” Sericum ”,“ Dies Festus ”).

    In just over half an hour, the two musicians therefore offer new proof of alchemy which, with extreme naturalness, unites their expressive worlds, manifesting itself in a surreal gallery of sounds and visions with a dark charm.”

    – Music Won’t Save You

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  • “Moonchy & Tobias III” Reviewed at Subjectivisten

    (Translated via Google)

    “The power and beauty of the micro label is regularly proven by the quirky Tiny Room Records. They know how to bring out wonderful unique music, which others do not have an eye or ear for. A very nice example is the duo Moonchy & Tobias. These debut on the label in 2018 with their eponymous album, albeit written in Japanese. It brings together two special artists, namely vocalist Pat Moonchy (Sothiac, Doubleganger, One Lip 5, Pat Moonchy Trio, Tai No-Orchestra) and the American multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias (4 Coyotes, Brother Earth, Clouds Forming Crowns, Circus Devils (with Robert Pollard from Guided By Voices), Ricked Wicky, Psycho And The Birds). And in addition, both have also released solo albums. Moonchy often moves in the experimental, dark ambient, avant-garde and noise angle,while Tobias prefers more psychedelic and adventurous rock. As a duo they form a completely magical and mysterious combination, which is also from their second albumAtmosfere (2019) emerges again. Now they are back with their third release Moonchy & Tobias III . The music has become a kaleidoscopic mix of neoclassical, dark ambient, avant-garde and psychedelia. Moonchy’s vocals, somehow reminiscent of Chinese, are somewhere between Phew and Louisa Lilani (from John Prop… does anyone even remember these classy ones?). Musically you have references such as Mi And L’Au, The Caretaker, Cranes, Dead Can Dance and Portishead , although they never quite cover what this pair brings here. In conclusion, you can safely say that you are certainly not dealing with an average combo. What a great, versatile and mesmerizing album!”

    – De Subjectivisten

     

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  • “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 African Paper

    (Translated via Google)

    “Anyone who plays “Atmosfere” and is at least partially familiar with the previous work by Pat Moonchy and Todd Tobias could feel confused for a while and ask whether he or she may have sold out in the record cabinet. What echoes at you is far from shrill voice experiments in artful fantasy languages ​​and from raw psychedelics collaged according to original contrasts.

    Instead, you listen to the nice guitar picking and mid-tempo drumming of a relaxed folk song that slowly turns into a subtle rock ballad. Even with slightly breathy singing, one becomes suspicious and initially thinks that Linda Perhacs (or Lisa Ekdahl, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sarah June …) has learned Italian. Only gradually, in the hoarse breath of nostalgia of “La Sguerdo”, one recognizes Moonchy in the tremolation of her voice, which this time is only slightly used, which is cherished by silk ribbons and kept from breaking out. Now there is movement in the songs, which unfold their charisma more and more. It speaks of the lascivious funkyness of “Occasione”, of the varied singing, which in “In Tasca” lies over atmospheric ballad strumming and repeatedly tilts into eccentric inclines,from the hypnotic Appreggios of the fragile “Dall ‘Occhio”.

    The atmosphere that is sung about and evoked in “Atmosfere” is of a sepia-colored nostalgia and is perfect for filling a stylishly furnished café – the effect would, however, be viral, which would give the cosiness a subtle refraction that would be barely perceptible to the inattentive. The friendly pop appeal has a double bottom that cannot be missing from two avant-garde artists who only seem to deny their roots.”

    – African Paper

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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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