An urban band goes rural
Formed in the heart of Boston in 2019, it might be surprising to hear that Coral Moons might just be the living incarnation of the woodland locale they’re based in now.
The band became mystified by an 1800s farmhouse located in Maine, where they recorded music. Paired with the pandemic in 2020, they realized that getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city could be a stepping stone for the group.
That’s when Carly Kraft (lead vocals/guitar) and Justin Bartlett (harmonies/guitar) moved to upstate New York to a new home studio in the woods.
“The home itself just had so much character, and when we saw this house, we wanted to lean into that,” Kraft said.
The indie pop group’s rural hub gives Kraft the physical and mental space to create. While she gardens and tends to her chickens, bouncing ideas off the band feels organic.
I think a lot of the countryside energy lends itself to peacefulness, healing, and working through old wounds,” Kraft said.
If Coral Moons isn’t creating in their tranquil space, they’re touring and sharing what they’ve crafted. The group is no stranger to playing in a cramped local bar, but as they gear up for Green River Music Festival this Friday, it’s clear the historic and lavish outdoor space will perfectly accommodate their earthy persona.
“Being in an outdoor environment and listening to music is the best way to absorb all new ideas … I find myself just being so much more present in nature, even if it’s just hanging out in the grass, there’s something special about the energy of touching the earth,” Kraft said. “Coming to a festival with so much love and openness, is a part of what makes festivals like Green River so special.”
That present feeling allows Kraft to perfect her songwriting process, describing late-night “spitballing” sessions with Justin and the other members who still live in Boston. These sessions are where the members of the band exchange lyrics back and forth with each other till they land on something that “interests” them.
These easygoing sessions are the result of songs such as “poser.” Kraft sings about how she wonders if she’s the only person who feels like she’s trying to impress everyone. Other songs of the band’s 2024 record “summer of u,” such as “too high” or “arcade,” keep with the theme of connecting mundane occurrences such as getting too intoxicated or reminiscing about a meeting place with someone special. Finding the more profound meaning in those memories or experiences is what Coral Moons is searching for while writing.
“Sometimes you don’t really even realize you’re feeling a certain way until you pick up an instrument … there’s so much untapped emotion that comes out when you’re songwriting,” Kraft said.
Using “poser” as an example, Kraft described feeling a range of emotions about a personal situation in her life. She felt different words “on the tip of her tongue” as she wrote about it, until she landed on “poser,” giving her a sort of “aha” moment on how to move forward with writing the song.
Kraft asked herself: “Why am I feeling like a poser?” By “dissecting” this, she and the band were able to piece together each lyrical aspect of the song. This process makes Coral Moons feel like they’re teaming up to produce a diary entry rather than recording a song for an indie pop band.
To complement the lyrical aspect, Coral Moons’ instrumentals are not always about chord structure or instrumentation; it’s about the feeling of each song, as Kraft puts it. When the band is working on a song, they try to match which instrument feels right for what they’re singing about. If the music they pen is nostalgic, they try to work with an acoustic guitar, as they believe that instrument is tied to that emotion.
“Songwriting process is very much just like following what feels good, you’re not trying too hard to push it in any direction,” Kraft said. Bartlett added that once they find what feels good, to make sure it all ties together instrumentally .
“We’re always just trying to feed into a particular emotion so that it all feels cohesive,” said Bartlett.
While each song is cohesive, both bandmates say that Coral Moons is always moving forward in an “exploratory phase.” Their upcoming single “Made Up My Mind,” releasing on July 2, is more “angsty, punky, ironic, and funny” than any of their other music before. Kraft rushed out of the frame of our interview to show me a “hobby horsing” prop used in their upcoming music video featuring a world inspired by a romanticized 1800s.
As Coral Moons keeps working on new sounds and music video ideas, they don’t want to box themselves into one genre.
“We’re just following where the inspiration strikes. I don’t know where our future is,” Kraft said. “We’re just excited for the exploration, and we’re following our hearts.”
If you can’t frolic at Green River this coming weekend, Coral Moons returns to their metropolitan roots at the Sinclair in Cambridge, Sep 10.
Catch Coral Moons at the Green River Music Festival, Friday, June 20, Franklin County Fairgrounds, Greenfield, Mass.
