Composer Rebecca Foon is walking her talk and taking the truth to those open enough to listen.
In a 2019 interview with Leslie Hook of the Financial Times, activist Greta Thunberg said, “…we have to tell it like it is. Because if there are no positive things to tell, then what should we do? Should we spread false hope? We can’t do that, we have to tell the truth.” If there’s one character trait that’s set Thunberg apart from other climate change activists, it’s her unwavering commitment to the untampered, often unsettling truth.
Composer Rebecca Foon (Saltland, Esmerine, Silver Mt. Zion) is committed to the truth as well. Waxing Moon, Foon’s first record under her own name, is her most intimate and personal record yet. Stepping away from Saltland’s electro-strings style towards a minimalist piano and voice presentation, Waxing Moon is more than just another record in Foon’s already-impressive canon; it is an extension of the work she’s done as one of the cofounders of Pathway To Paris, the nonprofit organization “dedicated to turning the Paris Agreement into reality”.
One of Pathway to Paris’s core beliefs is that collaboration between activists, educators, artists, and politicians is the best path forward to creating sustainable communities that rely solely on renewable energy. That same spirit of collaboration permeates Waxing Moon. Foon spills her heart into the haunting ballad “Pour”, accompanied on electric guitar by co-producer Jace Lasek (of The Besnard Lakes) and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Perry on bass. Elsewhere, Foon collaborates with Godspeed You! Black Emperor violinist Sophie Trudeau (“Another Realm” and “This Is Our Lives”), Patrick Watson bassist Mishka Stein (the elegiac “Ocean Song” and “Wide Open Eyes”, the up-tempo number that closes Side A), and Patrick Watson himself (as a guest vocalist on “Vessels”).
Foon’s personal musical stylings are all over “New World” (both the opening track and the reprise version that bookends the album), the same thoughtful, deliberate composition style she brings to the cello effortlessly translates to the piano. It feels natural that Foon is releasing Waxing Moon under her own name — it’s yet another affirmation of the truth she wishes to engage in. With so much of her professional life as an artist and activist (as if these two vocations can ever be clearly delineated) focused on the climate crisis, Foon is admirably walking her talk and taking the truth to those open enough to listen.
Rebecca Foon is donating all proceeds from Waxing Moon to Pathway To Paris.
