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Big Dread Moon

by Claire Cronin

supported by
William Boyle
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William Boyle Claire Cronin's work has been a great revelation for me this year. Read BLUE LIGHT OF THE SCREEN: ON HORROR, GHOSTS, AND GOD and then found her music. Like the book, this album is Catholic-haunted, full of ghosts and aching melancholy. Beautiful. Favorite track: What the Night Is Thinking.
__kla
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__kla Compelling austere music that demands your full attention. Cronin's unique voice, arresting lyrics, and ragged way of playing the electric mixed with the swirling viola create an evocative soundscape and these songs are designed to haunt. Got a hold on me real quick and I know I'll be coming back to them often. If you're looking for comparisons, Sandy Denny, Michael Hurley, Tiny Vipers, One Foot in the Grave-era Beck, "The Black Angel's Death Song" and "Venus in Furs" off VU&N. Favorite track: Wolfman.
LT
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LT The direct musical descendant of Flannery O'Connor we've been aching for! Absolutely arresting songs that feel electric with presence and attentive playing. Thank you, Claire Favorite track: Tourniquet.
adrift
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adrift Haunting in the best way, beacuse it's both magic and real. Like new/current labelmate Boduf Songs I hope that Claire Cronin ploughs on, ploughin' on. Favorite track: Tourniquet.
Aaron V
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Aaron V Cronin's voice is perfect with her folksy accompaniment and the subtle dark vibe that I gravitate towards. Definitely looking forward to buying her other albums. Keep up the great work, Claire! Favorite track: Tourniquet.
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    High quality, 150g vinyl LPs in rice paper innersleeves & extra heavyweight, full-color photo jackets w/ complete album lyrics. 8 songs, 30 minutes.

    Sea glass green edition limited to 300 copies.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Big Dread Moon via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Black vinyl LP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    High quality, 150g vinyl LPs in rice paper innersleeves & extra heavyweight, full-color photo jackets w/ complete album lyrics. 8 songs, 30 minutes.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Big Dread Moon via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Tourniquet 03:19
It's a spell you're running from I know it well— sugar is sweeter in hell The cough of cymbals, a victory bell, a parade for your years of good service Invisible, back-breaking, not worth it By the time I left, I was vacant: a haunted house with no basement If you hate the night, then replace it with visions of light underground Dissolvable, impossible, transparent First it's green and green then the weather speaks (at least that's how it appeared to me) Some unholy ghost in a cotton sheet A kid disguised as a tourniquet A sacrifice, a kitchen knife, so burn it
2.
A breath, perhaps a word to take your place, stand in front of me Oh tell me what is worse Leave the laurels for my enemies When you gonna stop it When you gonna stop it When you gonna lay it down in the undertow Oh face, fade to fake You were shining like a movie screen Blackest lake— break the frame Leave our names engraved on everything When you gonna stop it When you gonna stop it When you gonna lay it down in the undertow We want wild winds We want big wins We want bones bleached and scattering But who knows what the night is thinking Who knows what the night is thinking Who knows what the night is thinking
3.
Wolfman 05:45
I was in the black woods, not the bitter land with my gut-string murmur and my oil lamp He appeared— come shining— like a blue shock of rain and the Wolfman blinded me from pain I was sharp— an arrow— but not accurate with my ancient necklace and my sacraments A wolf to knight me with a true set of fangs I left all my trouble in this way Let it fall— fallow fold Lay these fevers into rows I was bored with silence and emergency and the wolf was reckless and he followed me to appear in a nightgown like a doll at my side and the Wolfman wounded me from sight
4.
Saint's Lake 03:45
You say, saint's lake, I'm not for you Heartbreak, cheapskate I was poor too Clean and buy, clean and buy, clean and buy Coffins long for the touch of death Heard every book you read Tied to the border-line Lay me down in the bed I am King of the crooked hand Once we were more than kind Trade me out for a silver cup I don't need all your luck With you a thousand times Late at night, late at night, late at night Find me there (hear my prayer)
5.
I'm a wolf fang made for night games I was born framed: if you find me I'll get caught Raise the rafters praising faster Watch the fire take the countryside then frost I will hold you name I will hold your name up like a shield I will hold you I'm a tightrope made for high hopes I'm the old joke that's worn its welcome off Hallelujahs go right through you What's it to you if the point was to stay lost I will hold your name I will hold your name up like a shield I will hold you Said you didn't want to talk about it keep those secrets locked and baby, put the lights out we don't need to make a sound I will hold your name I will hold your name up like a shield I will hold you
6.
Call Out 03:07
Get down there boy, you're not my enemy Lay in the mud like you can't see me through the trees Birds may cry they're the voices of the dead seeking power from our breath We can't give it to them, can we? I shot a map, I let the colors run Tore down the sky until the gravel blocked the sun Hide your eyes I am trying to be right like a portrait of a knight with his armor and his family Call out, fade out, fall out Call out, fade out, fall out If you want blood, you've got to offer blood It's always brighter than the movies said it was Hypnotize: now you're dying in the dream and the night's a silver screen and the storm put its mouth over me Call out, fade out, fall out Call out, fade out, fall out
7.
Six Guns 03:58
Send six guns to carry me I have been to the mountain How they rang their bells on Christmas Eve but I could not hear or count them Did you meet she whose mind asleep is a shadow out walking? In a day for night, in a black and white where her name means next to nothing Was a blue room she sank into Was a spell black as thinking And between the two came a passing mood that could break the back of breathing What the eyes see on TV screens decays I have lost all my images this way I have known what would come before it came Lost names: I am opened in this I am opened in this Send six guns to carry me I have come from the mountain How they rang their bells on Christmas Eve but I could not hear or count them
8.
The Lamb 03:29
Shameless talk, baby don't walk What it means to you is it freezes you The lamb is soft, he resembles us and against the frost he is weaponless What it means to you is it wrestles you It's an angel caught in your retinue The soul can die like a sparrow can and be buried high in a frozen wind Hope of hope, it's a prison joke like a ruby caught in your swollen throat My God is calm and decisionless and he breaks my back in deliverance

about

"When she sings, you believe every word."
- Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork

"For fans of: Flannery O’ Connor, Sharon Van Etten, and werewolves."
- Zoe Camp, Bandcamp

Big Dread Moon by Claire Cronin is a record of spiritual urgency. Cronin's lyrics and melodies draw on the the stranger aspects of early American musical tradition, revealing the genre’s ties to “folk horror,” wherein supernatural and mundane worlds merge. Quietly sinister ballads like "Tourniquet" and "Wolfman" arise from the weird logic of dream, myth, and half-forgotten memories. Suburban homes, TV screens, and city landscapes are haunted by saints, beasts, ghosts, seers, and a “calm and decisionless” god. Lyrics which implore or command act like prayers or spells embedded inside Cronin's fever dream stories and personal confessions.

These are devastatingly spare, delicate, emotionally intense songs, arranged around electric guitar, viola, and Cronin’s singular voice.

credits

released June 14, 2019

All songs by Claire Cronin (BMI)
Claire Cronin: vocals, guitar
Ezra Buchla: viola, piano, synth, guitar
Shahzad Ismaily: bass, drums, synth, guitar

Recorded & mixed by Shahzad Ismaily
Mastered & additional mixing by Matt Mehlan

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about

CLAIRE CRONIN Berkeley, California

Claire Cronin is a writer and musician in Los Angeles.

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