THE GEORGIA STRAIT

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Moon cast a musical spell with atmospheric goth rock

According to her press kit, Betty Moon was first born in 1560 in Mitcham, England, where, 67 years later, she was burned at the stake as a witch. By 1648 she was walking the earth again, this time as the bride of a Huron chief. A few deaths and rebirths later - her lives included a stint as the Bell Witch, a shadowy figure who tormented a a family in Robertson County, Tennessee - Betty Moon resurfaced in Australia. This time she was feeling truly nasty. According to the bio, Moon had a son she attempted to kill in 1959 by "singing him to death". Lest anyone think she's related to Whitney Houston, the method involved placing the shoes of the intended victim in a ceremonial log and then singing until the person died. Somewhere along the line, the Aussie mom must have bought the farm, because, according to Betty Moon's bio, she's the latest in a long line of reincarnations.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Toronto-based singer is that she sounds completely normal. From the way her bio reads, you pick up the phone expecting a monologue straight out of the Salem witch trials. But, sadly, a conversation with Betty Moon proves the old adage "you can't always believe what you read." The singer-songwriter doesn't even attempt to talk in tongues. In fact, with a minimum of prodding, she cheerfully confessed that all the reincarnation stuff is a load of crap.

"The bio is a good read, but that's all it is," Moon says when she calls from a Sudbury tour stop. "My friend Valerie and I put the bio together, and some people don't get that it's not serious. This will sound corny, but the only magical power I have is maybe to write music that makes people feel good. I'm working on the other powers."

Until she learns to fly around on a broomstick and lay spells on peasants, Canadians are going to have to make do with Moon as the creator of Stir, a debut CD that mixes big metal riffs with plenty of Batcave- inspired gothic imagery, Vampires, werewolves, and Stephen King's ill-fated prom queen Carrie all surface during the course of the album's 14 tracks. Moon - who plays the Brickyard on Saturday (December 6) - agrees she might have been a goth rocker in another life, but isn't quite as accepting of the idea that she dabbles in metal on the album.

"I listen to a lot of heavier music, but I don't really consider it to be metal," she says. To me, the word metal conjures up images of Judas Priest or Iron Maiden, and, to be honest, I don't like those bands. I'm more into heavy stuff like Tool and Korn. I think the music that we make falls into the same kind of niche as those groups." Where Tool is all testosterone-fuelled guitars and throat-shredding vocals, Stir is more about atmosphere. Like Concrete Blonde's Bloodletting, it's the kind of album you want in the Walkman when you're walking the deserted streets under a full moon.

"During the recording process, I really tried to create an ambient feeling, not only in the rehearsal space in Toronto, but also in the studio," she says. "I really got into it - I had dolls and candles all over the place, and I made sure the lights were always dim. I really got lost in the whole thing, and I

think that shows." Mike Usinger