In some places, history and folklore feel interchangeable, places where local stories become part of the landscape and the past never quite agrees to stay buried. With her latest album, When The Dark Moon Shines Pale, Monique Grimme explores precisely that territory, drawing on six folklore-inspired stories from Northwest New Jersey and turning them into an imaginative musical collection.
From mysterious apparitions to tragic disappearances, each of the six tracks offers its own interpretation of the people, places and legends connected to its location. Folk music has always been the perfect form for telling such tales, but rather than simply recounting a well-worn story, Grimme uses music to conjure the requisite atmosphere, giving them all the grim gravitas and campfire fright they deserve.
We start with Hookerman’s Lights, a lilting country-rock groover, exploring the phenomenon variously known around the world as will-o’-the-wisp, jack-o’-lantern, and fools’ fire. And always there is the question…is this unexplained light before us merely swamp gas, or is it the Hookerman himself, that spectral railroad man still searching for the hand he lost and the wedding ring dear to him? It is an intriguing introduction, balancing inviting musical energies with a distinctly unsettling story.
Johnsonburg’s White Pilgrim, a recent single, revisits the tale of a spirit unable to find peace. Over a fiddle-laced folk anthem, Grimme recounts the plight of the unfortunate preacher, Joseph Thomas, whose denied Christian burial supposedly condemned him to wander the surrounding roads. Something both grand and melancholy about the arrangement gives this ghostly tale an appropriately human heart.
The story of Tillie Smith, for all its darkness, takes a more sonically serene route: fiddles soar, sweep, and swoon, providing the melodic flow while banks of mournful choral voices create an atmospheric, ethereal backdrop. Grimme’s vocals wander between whispered intimacy and soaring crescendos, guided by delicate acoustic guitars and a deft, understated beat. It is a beautifully judged piece of musical storytelling, where restraint proves just as powerful as drama.
Then we find ourselves looking up at Paulinskill Viaduct, exploring the mythologies surrounding this abandoned leviathan, once a marvel of modern engineering; it now stands as a monument to the passage of progress, its imposing structure seemingly echoing with the voices of those sacrificed to the industrial world’s relentless appetite for speed. And although the music seems understated, its wailing, disembodied harmonica and funeral beat suit this imposing concrete graveyard.
If Fog on the Kittatinny Mountain recounts the more recent tale of Second World War airmen lost in the mountain mists, set to a stomping bluegrass arrangement, Jenny Jump takes us back to the earliest settlers in this part of America. The legend of a young girl making a fateful leap to escape perceived danger unfolds as flute flutters and staccato rhythms propel the story onwards. To such a tune, it is easy to picture her soaring from the precipice and straight into the annals of mythology.
Ultimately, When The Dark Moon Shines Pale is a fascinating meeting of music, memory and regional mythology. Grimme gives these stories fresh life, finding melodies in their mysteries and atmosphere in their histories. It is a journey through a landscape where the past still casts long shadows, and where some stories refuse to disappear into the darkness.
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