Goodnight Moonlight pens “Letters to Japan”
By Anthony Saia
Goodnight Moonlight
Dream Pop / Indie
RIYL: The Cure, Lake Michigan, Soft Pastels
Sometimes there are bands that conjure up feelings of sadness and sorrow. Other times, there are bands that bring never ending joy. It is rare that a band is capable of bringing both. Goodnight Moonlight is capable to conveying both. We hear it here on their newest single, “Letters To Japan.” Featured on their forthcoming EP, even though their Bandcamp page said they were working on a full-length, “Letters” has that late 80s / early 90s shoegaze sound.
Clocking in at just under four minutes, “Letters” is composed well. Swelling and swirling at first, once the song reaches about the minute mark, we’re met with a jangly guitar riff, not unlike something we would have heard on a track from The Cure. That’s not to say that Goodnight Moonlight sounds like The Cure specifically, but the sonic comparison could be made by anyone that is familiar with their music.
That said, the song seems to have a story with it. Don’t believe me? Check out the lyrics:
The streets are crying, everyday
We need some peace, in this place
The cherry blossom, has its ways
Kyoto will you, let me stay
This fucking lion, cold and grey
It’s not the worst but, I don’t need this day
Please give me something, give me something strange
Osaka let me, just let me get away
Kyoto will you, let me stay
Osaka I need, to get away
My heart is longing, during the darkest days
Japan it’s many, many so miles away”
There are so many things to unpack in these three lines. Are they singing about a trip they took? A trip they want to take? Are Kyoto and Osaka the cities where past flames lived? Who’s top say other than the band, right? Comprised of Jasper Boogaard, Jente Lammerts, Micha Zaat, and Jim Luijten, Goodnight Moonlight, have shown they should be noticed, and while this song isn’t the flashiest, it shows that the quartet knows how to write a song.
Ultimately, this is a great track from a great up-and-coming band from Rotterdamn, The Netherlands. We highly recommend it and look forward to the full EP.
