The Power of Three

Despite a musical pedigree that includes prog luminaries like Mostly Autumn, Riversea and Lee Abraham, Moon Halo remain relatively undiscovered. Following the release of Trichotomy, their third studio album, Prog caught up with Marc Atkinson, David Clements and lain Jennings to find out how their three-way creative collaboration works.

- Words: Alison Reijman

Moon Halo is a three-cornered musical project which has, for the most part, slipped under the prog radar. This, the members admit, stems from operating within a crowded market and without the requisite promotional cogs turning to support them. However, they hope their third studio album, Trichotomy, will capture the imagination of a wider audience.

And with 12 diverse, engaging songs that stretch over 70 minutes, the album certainly merits close attention.

"Luckily, we've built up a bit of a following over the years with our various projects," says lead vocalist Marc Atkinson, also known for his work with Riversea, Mandalaband, Nine Stones Close and Lee Abraham. "But trying to reach outside the audience we already have is the biggest challenge for us as we don't have a manager or any sort of promotion team behind us at all. We just rely on good word of mouth or good reviews to try and reach more people who would enjoy our music." Joining Atkinson are his close friends and fellow Yorkshiremen, bassist and producer David Clements (Atkinson's longtime musical associate of 38 years with whom he played in Riversea), and Iain Jenkins, Mostly Autumn's keyboard player.

"Iain was up for the idea of writing and recording an album together, so Moon Halo formed in 2018, and our first album, Chroma, came out in 2020," says Atkinson.

That was followed by their second album, Together Again, in 2022, which also ran to more than 70 minutes.

"I think we all want to write good songs in whatever form they take.

We all like being creative, so it was just about seeing what comes out of us collectively and enjoying the process," explains Atkinson.