It’s clever as it overlaps melodies, creating this sense of wonder that completely sucked me inside. - Austin Town Hall

Danny slows down the heartbeat, sharpens focus, and suspends you into a better reality. - The Deli

There’s a gauzy sincerity permeating the music that allows you to fall completely under its sway. - Beats Per Minute

The Collect Pond is the newest songwriting engine for Danny Moffat, who made his first record on a 4-track recorder in Bellingham, Washington at the age of 15. Through writing and performing, he continued his musical journey in New Zealand, Seattle, Portland (OR), New York City, and now Boston. He received positive reviews via national press in New Zealand and cracked college radio’s BFM top 10. While in New York, he was the guitarist on rapper Que Believe’s “Diamonds” and a touring guitarist for Brooklyn indie rockers It Was Romance. Moffat was a session musician for hip-hop/EDM producers Soca Rebel and Ray DaPlug at BMJ Studios. As an audio engineer, Moffat worked as an assistant recording engineer under former Passion Pit and Team Spirit member Ayad Al Adhamy at Diamond City Studios.

With a handful of songs, Danny Moffat presents In the Garden, the latest record from his lofi-indie pop project, The Collect Pond. For this EP, Moffat sought out guidance from songwriting guru Charlotte Hatherley, a solo artist and former member of Northern Irish pop-punk band Ash. Hatherley encouraged Moffat to add more contrast to his fluid and folky melodies. Moffat took inspiration from Brian Eno’s “Oblique Strategies,” which has been used by The Talking Heads and David Bowie during his Berlin trilogy, and is based on the thousands-year-old “I Ching” by Sun Tzu. These ancient ideas pushed Moffat into new songwriting territory as he created the soundscape for In the Garden.

Songwriting for In the Garden began when Moffat moved from New York to Cambridge, MA, a tree-lined college town. In the Garden represents a collection of layered songs that feel both comfortable as well as cultivated. Recording began in the backdrop of Covid-19, so Moffat chose “the garden” as a concept since it is a space that embodies that which is both public and private, and the garden was also the furthest Moffat could travel outside for long periods of time while practicing social distancing. It is a fitting symbol of the confluence of lyrical themes which cover both domestic and urban life. Moffat invites you on a wild ride (Traveling), to take you to a museum (Hieronymous Bosch), work as a dishwasher (Washing Dishes), and then return home again (In Between The Seasons) in just under 11 minutes.