B.C.’s Imogen Moon reimagines her late grandfather’s cult 1971 album with elements of jazz and soul

Imogen Moon remembers her grandfather as someone who was active, swimming a mile a day and walking as much as he could. 

“He was a glowing radiant ball of energy,” she told North by Northwest host Margaret Gallagher. 

Moon also remembers him constantly playing music. 

Her grandfather was the late Canadian composer Doug Randle, whose love of writing music and playing jazz landed him a job as an in-house composer with CBC in the 1960s. 

In 1971, Randle released the album Songs For The New Industrial State, which mixed pop with lyrics that take on heavy topics like environmental activism and the perils of corporate life. 

The album reached a new audience when it was reissued by Light in the Attic Records in 2009. Pitchfork called the re-release “a work of singular vision that earns its second airing through Randle’s inventive sense of arrangement and to-the-point honesty.”

Moon grew up listening to Songs For The New Industrial State and found comfort in it following her grandfather’s passing in 2013 when she was just 12 years old. 

Now she and her mother, Joanne Randle, worked to recreate his work with their own flair. The result was When They Start Rebelling, an EP that was released earlier this summer.

Reimagining

Moon, who lives on Galiano Island, emphasizes that her grandfather was a jazz musician through and through, but Songs For The New Industrial State was a psychedelic pop album. 

“That’s how he wanted to get the message across,” Moon said. 

When They Start Rebelling features elements of Randle’s original love — jazz — as well as soul.  

At 22, Moon is relatively new to singing. She had spent many years in dance before she asked her family to help her make an EP as a high school graduation gift. 

And she did make that EP, titled The Child Cyrus, when she was just 18 years old. 

Then, she said, she and her mother had the same idea to recreate Doug Randle’s work. 

“She’s doing the background vocals on the album, which was incredible, and you’ll hear them if you listen for them.,” Moon said. “We have very similar voices.” 

Liner notes

Moon said the new album title was taken from the liner notes of her grandfather’s album. 

“Songs for the New Industrial State is a gorgeous title and has so much meaning behind it,” she said. 

“But it is very long. We were trying to think of something that would not make this album feel like it was a cover album.”

When she found the line “when they start rebelling,” she knew that was the title of her collection. 

“There’s always a rebellion and it’s happening in so many different ways currently. It also implies that it hasn’t happened enough and that we have to keep working towards a new goal or maybe just approach our goal in a different way.”

Moon says she hopes she’s done the album justice. 

“It’s very emotional. I’ve had so many dreams where he comes to me in my dreams and he says, ‘I’m proud of what you’ve done.'”