Quality Americana

Virginia based songwriter Shane Cooley celebrated the annular solar eclipse with the release of “Black Moon.”

“I’ve always known my evil ways. I’ve kept them all at bay, but they still crave their taste of glory,” Cooley sings in the opening as we watch the Moon swallow the bright orange glow. “You weren’t supposed to see me like this at all, but your eyes adjusted.”

We hear a faint harmonica and wind chimes in the opening along with rich notes on Cooley’s vintage Guild. The track was recorded at his family compound on the outskirts of Richmond.

Cooleyland in Virginia

“That area started being settled in the mid 1600s,” Cooley said, “so there’s like the gravestones of George Washington’s relatives right down the street from my house.”

Cooley has worked to perfect his recording process over the past few years and hearing “Black Moon” is like watching a student walk the stage and accept their degree. Cooley also produced fellow bandmate Lori Ellen’s first single “Ghost” last year. His work shows he can fully capture the emotions that come from reflective writing. 

“The current release of (Black Moon) is dedicated to Eclipse Utopia Festival and the annular eclipse,” Cooley said. “I wrote this song years ago after I played out on that land. It’s a very magical land.”

Cooley held the final set that started late in the evening and ended at sunrise, and he performed with the Midnight Girls on the main stage last weekend for the final year of the festival. 

“It was a phase of the moon called the ‘Black Moon,’” Cooley said. “It just appeared out of thin air. It’s a song that’s been very dear to me for a long time.”

Cooley experiments with recording techniques

After many attempts in his home studio at Cooleyland, he decided to try an environmental setting. 

“I really wanted to just capture a really soulful recording of it,” Cooley said. “I tried all sorts of different ways in my studio and then resorted to sitting on my front porch with one microphone and letting the sounds of the cicadas and all the nature kind of weave into it naturally. It just felt right.”

The track ads layers as it rolls on, but remains sparse at the right times to really pull on your heart strings. The personal story weaved throughout is presented in a universal way that lets the listener reflect on their own life.

“I feel like it gives a chance for all these real things to seep into it in a way that can happen in the most magical live moments,” Cooley said, “but not very often. Being able to capture that live essence and that soul of the song while having the control to make it sound the way I want it to sound is really a blessing.” 

“Black Moon” is Cooley’s masterpiece and captures everything I’ve loved about his art for over a decade. It’s a Southeastern moment where everything you’ve ever worked for comes together in one moment etched in time.

More information on Shane Cooley can be found here.

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