Pale Moon’s proprietor, Jared Samuel Elioseff was raised by his grandfather on a steady diet of Steve Reich, Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone and Kurt Weil. having started in his late teens he then spent nearly two decades on the road and in the studio, mostly as a “utility player”, specializing chiefly in electric bass and keyboard instruments.
sometime later— during peak-pandemic lockdown— he taught himself piano tuning and a bit of saxophone by ear, plus DIY wall-insulation. and so- having already amassed many instruments, mics, odd bits of tuned and untuned percussion, and several electric basses and guitars- it made perfect sense to escape to the North Country of Washington County, NY to build a home and a recording studio.
his partner in this and all things is someone not of this world, who nonetheless claims to be from Texas:
Sarah La Puerta is the caretaker of Pale Moon and all its many flora & fauna. an accomplished musician and multimedia artist in her own right, Sarah’s contributions are sometimes ineffable, but always unassailable and inestimable. they may manifest as a passage for vibraphone or tenor recorder, an expertly-cooked Tex-Mex meal, a dreamy vocal part, or even some album art. or likewise it might just be the moment when even the most buttoned-up and otherwise - articulate individual sets foot in our space and comments, slack-jawed, on “what a great vibe” is immediately palpable. this happens every thyme, & that- in a nutshell- is just some of the magic that is Sarah.
Matthew Cullen, the British expat jewel of the Hudson Valley, is rather unassuming when you first meet him. as a matter of fact: if not for my telling you he’s a Grammy-award winning engineer with the knowledge, instinct and stamina necessary to have recorded albums for everyone from The Nude Party to Norah Jones to Insecure Men to Ray LaMontagne, My Morning Jacket, and several points between, you might not ever otherwise know. (he’s mostly quite taciturn and completely lovely.)
his superpowers include: getting absolutely amazing drum sounds in less than 30 min, nearly-immaculate neutrality and opacity of opinion during the process, and a willingness to chase any fantastical notion of noise-seeking and sound-capture to its (il)logical conclusion. he refers to himself as “an anonymous technician”, but we won’t allow that; to us he is the most special guest engineer. we adore him. and we involve him, whenever possible.
keeping the gear well-fed and excercised is an obligatory part of any operating studio. for this, we often utilize the diverse talents of our friend Victor Pacek, hailing from the Wachusett highlands of Massachusetts, this native New Englander maintains gear, helps run sessions and lends upright bass and/or tuba wherever it is necessary. Victor's passion for music first brought him to Nashville where he began to fulfill his curiosity for the science of acoustics & audio engineering. now residing in western MA, Victor is often pulling huge fish out of tiny creeks, identifying local trees & fungi, or cruising on his mountain bike. in more suburban settings. when he’s not helping to keep our pinch rollers rollin he works days restoring groovy recording consoles and other vintage audio equipment for the renowned Sonic Circus of VT.
honorable mentions: Pale Moon would otherwise just be a pipe dream without the generosity and ingenuity of those detailed above, plus the following stout-hearted people: Joe Miner, Jason Tavares, Ben Fields, Thor Harris, Christopher Puidokas, Richard Levengood, Ben Fischer, Gerardo Ordonez, Sophie Miner, Adam Jones, Nick Kinsey, Shae Meyer, Bay Habshey, Del Montgomery, Sam Houdek, Stephanie Brown, Chris Hefner, Jake Woodruff, Gina Norgard, Carter Bales, Charles Elioseff, John Valesio, Timothy Bright, Brian Hultgren, TJ Hiemel, Frances & David Wiley, Chad Lubertowicz, Kim Craig, Chris Ruggiero, Clemens Poole, Georgia Hourdas, Stevie Weinstein Foner, Jessica J Milton, Zev Nevo, and weirdos like u.