While such a statement might conjure the holy icons of celebrities on magazine covers or the communal prayers of sports crowds, or even the near-transcendental flutter experienced at the promise of large sums of money, Wallace’s truth is probably a lot more subtle and personalised, centred around our view of ourselves and the yearning for something more. As such, much of the worship goes on inside our heads, small hopes and habits we repeat over and over, as though incantation and ritual might invoke our better selves.

Don’t Hide From The Light, the debut release from PAT MOON, feels like this sensation committed to music. The solo recording project of Portland’s Kate Davis, who you might know as the face behind Track and Field Records, PAT MOON utilises analog synths and drum machines to create what could be described as dark dream dance or ecclesiastical electro-pop. At once insular and expansive, the album feels like a private ceremony within an abandoned church, solemn and serious and sacred in its own humble way, pertaining to no system of belief beyond that of human experience yet feeling instantly recognisable, a likeness of our own inner-thoughts. Such empathy is present from the first bars of ‘Feel You’, the opener possessing that warm-yet-cold feeling peculiar to cathedrals, where death and guilt and love and life are so entwined they become one.

Other highlights include ‘Show Me a Sign’, an echoing, synth-heavy plea for enlightenment, the spectral chorus of ‘I See You’ and ‘Love Me as I Am’, another song that manages to be at once intimate and vast, submissive and resolute, a steadfast hymn summoned from deep within. Closing track ‘Enter My Mind / All I Know is Now’ is imbued with a certain lightness, a candle-lit organ-drone which seems to brighten across its run-time.

With its melancholic seriousness punctuated with near-mystical frisson, PAT MOON’s debut is a reminder that worship is not some hotline for divine intervention but rather a process of feeling and thinking and believing. Sure, Davis may find her prayers unanswered, her rituals unrewarded, but you get the sense that the very process of acting and asking can be a route to confidence and love. One that does not rely on the whim of a deity or the alignment of the stars.

Don’t Hide From The Light is out now and you can buy it from the PAT MOON Bandcamp page.

Photo by Sam Velenne

The post PAT MOON – Don’t Hide From The Light appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Daft Punk – Get Lucky

“God, I hate myself for choosing this song. The fuss around Random Access Memories was one of the most ridiculous things to happen this year – you could be forgiven for thinking the turgid 75 minute marathon record was the second coming of Christ himself. But say what you want about Daft Punk – and I will continue to do so – ‘Get Lucky’ is pretty much the perfect pop song. The production is flawless (I still gawp at Nile Rogers’ guitar tone when I listen on headphones), it’s catchier than the common cold and its groove is absolutely irresistible. If ‘Get Lucky’ doesn’t make you want to dance then I don’t know what will.” Dave

The National – Graceless

“To put it simply: my favourite song from my favourite album of 2013. For a more elaborate (see: overwritten) explanation, read this post I wrote for Songsfortheday, where I analyse it in too much detail, going into medication, isolation and, uh, Facebook.” Jon

Typhoon – Young Fathers

“It’s almost impossible to choose a single track from a year’s worth of music, but I’ve gone for this, from my number one album of 2013. ‘Young Fathers’ is a disjointed orchestral pop mini-epic, it’s cathartic and it’s triumphant and it embodies everything the album stands for.” Liam

Fuck Buttons – The Red Wing

“Taken from my favourite album of the year, ‘The Red Wing’ is not only monumental in scale, but also manages to maintain an underlying groove, as if riding on fluid foundations.” Matt

Foals – My Number

“Released as a single in 2012, but released on 2013’s Holy Fire so I’m counting it. Quite simply the soundtrack to my favourite moments of 2013, whether it was blaring out and accompanying the sunrise in Split or being hummed maniacally while cycling from London to Paris. That opening guitar lick never got old.” Will

The post Wake The Deaf’s Top Tracks of 2013 appeared first on Various Small Flames.