Jon Moor & the guilt

Jon the Guilt

Jon Moor is merging punk’s hard-charging sincerity and the sweeping anthemic structure of classic rock. Jon the Guilt, the name chosen for this project, explores the complications of life and love using their own unique sonic palette and drawing from a life’s worth of musical and personal history. Recalling the passionate burn of Paul Westerberg’s solo career, Moor’s forthcoming debut EP L’appel Du Vide dives deep into the heart of modern life’s anxieties, asking important questions about what we give others in the relationships we forge—and what we expect back as well.

Having grown up in Atlanta with teeth cut on ‘90s indie rock like Archers of Loaf and Sonic Youth as well as D.C. punk luminaries Fugazi and NYC legends Jawbreaker, Moor moved to New York in the 2000s and made his way through the punk scene, eventually forming the trio Money Paper Hearts. “We played a lot locally with weekend warrior tristate area tours” he recalls on the band’s heyday, during which they self-released two albums.

The band called it quits in 2014, and after the dissolution, Moor moved to Long Island and started a family, effectively taking a hiatus from music up until recently. “I didn’t pick up a guitar for five years after my band broke up. I was spent and angry, I had enough or so I thought until last year,” he explains while discussing the musical reawakening that led to Jon the Guilt. “I decided to focus on healing my mental and physical health. I quit drinking, started meditating and soon a resurgence and passion for music entered back into my life like never before. So I took a gamble became a stay at home dad, and quit my job to focus on writing and recording again. Songs poured and continue to pour out of me.”

Steering away from his early influences while embracing the sound of classic rock touchstones like Neil Young, ELO, Tom Petty, and Fleetwood Mac, L’appel Du Vide came together in the comfort of Moor’s home—its title translating to “Into the void” in French, a concept that appealed to Jon who defines it as “The feeling you get when you look over the Empire State Building and think you could jump.” “A lot of my songs have to do with anxiety in relationships—the ups and downs of marriage,” he explains while discussing the new material’s thematic bent as well as the panic disorder that further informs his sound: “It comes out not so much lyrically, but musically.”

With winding synths, jangly guitars, and a miles-wide melody, “Gold” is a pitch-perfect sonic meld that addresses the uncertainties that come with transitional periods in one’s life: “Gold is about not really sure of knowing where your life is headed, or if you’ve made the right decisions—the apprehension of leaving the city and returning back to suburbia, where I escaped from,” Moor explains while discussing the song. Elsewhere, the slow-burning closer “Where Love Is on Fire”—a duet with musical collaborator Elizabeth Wyld—addresses love in its most elemental form. “It’s a conversation in song. Two points of view in two different verses, both people struggling with the complexities of a long term relationship . Yet ultimately admitting both love one another deeply.” 

Above all else, Moor describes the potent, passionate songs contained on L’appel Du Vide as “Raw from the gut emotional urgency, and not being afraid to show it, or express those sides of life. Coming from the punk scene, I never felt like I fit in. I loved the sonic capabilities of punk but the mentality felt so limiting to me. You had to be this or that like it was some sort of club. For me, It got to be where you weren’t allowed to be enthusiastic without being almost cartoonish. I now enjoy exploring outside of the box with new sounds and styles of writing.” Consider Jon the Guilt, then, an artist reborn and unafraid to express their every facet of self—an ethos that’s resulted in music that’s affecting as it is effortlessly catchy.

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