Betty Moon

"Queen Street goth-girl” Betty Moon has earned a reputation as a seen-it-all veteran of the Canadian music industry. Emerging in the early ’90s, Moon had a short-lived stint as a major label artist on A&M Records, who found her progression from a poppy singer-songwriter to a grungy, hard-rocker baffling. Anticipating the "Seattle sound” that her former label couldn’t foresee as the "next big thing,” Moon subsequently released a collection of songs independently in 1993, which were compared to the likes of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. Moon upped the independent ante again, starting her own label (Violet Records) and self-releasing her second album Stir in 1997. Despite her renewed affiliation with a major label (EMI) seven years later, Moon’s DIY spirit remains in tact with the self-produced Doll Machine. Unfortunately, this spirit is most evident within the record’s production values and not the music itself, which screams corporate, hair-rock. Moon is clearly a talented singer with the chops for the intense and introspective music she makes, but aside from the buzz saw guitars, the songs on Doll Machine do little to distinguish themselves from the same Can-schlock produced by the likes of Alannah Myles and National Velvet.