Culture
Athens duo Shadow in the Moon taps into the spirit of folk rock’s golden age on ‘Homegrown Harmonies’
By: Emily Votaw
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – There’s no shortage of bands in and around Athens, Ohio, chasing their own version of alt-country transcendence—groups that rightfully idolize the ragged sincerity of Uncle Tupelo or the introspective grit of Tyler Childers.
Shadow in the Moon, however, follows a different path. On their latest release, Homegrown Harmonies, the duo channels something far more spectral and folkloric, operating on a wavelength entirely their own.
Jessica Bouiffoux and Kurt McGinnis craft music that feels as if it has drifted in from an alternate timeline—one where listeners revere T. Rex’s 1971 classic Electric Warrior and Tyrannosaurus Rex’s My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair… But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows in equal measure. It’s a world where you’re just as likely to spot a Fairport Convention t-shirt as a Rolling Stones one, and where Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac’s The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown) holds the same veneration as anything on Rumours.
That world doesn’t exist—at least not yet—but Homegrown Harmonies lets us hear what it might sound like if it did.
Homegrown Harmonies opens with Moving On, a road song whose loud, reverb-soaked electric guitar gives way to a rhythm as restless as the lyric’s open-ended sentiment. “I don’t know where I’m going, but it’ll be okay,” Bouiffoux sings—warm but just achy enough. Behind her, organ-like keys pulse, providing the song’s heartbeat. The contrast between McGinnis’ gritty guitar and Bouiffoux’s luminous vocals forms the album’s emotional axis, each part dynamically playing off the other.
Twin Flame dives into the crimson-hued, incense-and-peppermints oddness that defines Shadow in the Moon’s aesthetic. A chunky guitar riff locks in with a gothic organ tone that skirts camp but never crosses into it—landing instead in the sweet spot of dark, playful fun, like a scene illustrated by Edward Gorey.
Harmony Road stands out as a true highlight—jangly, kinetic, and sunlit. Then comes Rock N Roll Free My Soul, another road song, though this time the highway feels more like a playground than an escape. The lyrics strike a balance between whimsy and self-awareness, and the guitars burst with buoyant energy. Spinning Song once again captures the band’s essence, holding both melancholy and mischief in the same breath.
The magnetic single Garden Graves ventures deeper into progressive folk territory. The arrangement is intricate but never indulgent, its structure twisting like ivy. McGinnis’s guitar lines flow effortlessly, Bouiffoux’s vocals stretch and sigh with precision, and the keys weave it all together in a dreamlike haze.
Toward the album’s end come Daydreaming and Mystic Mama, two songs that distill Shadow in the Moon’s dual nature. Daydreaming drifts in a soft haze. Mystic Mama, by contrast, opens with a gritty blues riff—a reminder that beneath the organ-like swells and Donovan-style folky fantasy imagery, this remains a rock band at heart.
On Homegrown Harmonies, Bouiffoux and McGinnis draw from Appalachia’s natural mysticism—its hills, folklore, and sense of time running backward—to create something distinctly their own. While many bands chase authenticity through imitation, Shadow in the Moon achieves it the way artists like The Incredible String Band and Pearls Before Swine once did: by following the lesser-trodden paths of genuine curiosity and playful creative exploration.