28 November 2012

Luna Moth - 2012 - Shadows Casting Trees

Quality: 4.25 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.25 out of 5

Man, I think Luna Moth probably have some of the same dreams that I do.  Last night, I dreamed that I was fending of a zombie apocalypse from an upper floor of an apartment highrise.  I think I got nibbled on at some point.  Luna Moth may not be on that particular trip, but they do crank out some great gothic shoegazing sounds.  This is the kind of thing that talented hopefuls would sent of to 4AD in hopes of a record contract.  Back in 1990, this set could have very well pulled of the trick.

Wild Nothing's "Nocturne" has perched itself near the top of my favorites for 2012, and this comes across as a freakier echo of that canyon that lies between the Cure and Slowdive.  That's selling things a little short though as these guys can build their sounds off of more diverse templates as "Lupine Blooms Voluminous" shares a kindred spirit with the Red House Painters.  "Soulvine Unto Pleidies" and "When You Sleep" definitely exude distorted guitar bliss as the best of shoegaze does, while "Trees Casting Shadows" is sort of like a happy outtake from the Cure's "Pornography" (not that it's particularly happy - it's just that "Pornography" is darker than Black Dynamite).  "Heartswells" joins the present with a sort of Deerhunter bounce.  "satori Underseas" is the glossy epic to thrust your ears through the multiverse membrane, in the manner of the Smashing Pumpkins better extended moments like "Starla."

Yeah, these sounds are shoegazing guitar vibrations passed through the American prism.  But we Yankees can get it right occasionally as Luna Moth demonstrates.  It may not be the flavor of the month, but you'll hear the 60's dream of psychedelia time warped through at least 30 years of retro-futurism.

You've got quite a rabbit hole to plunge through.  The following link will take you to the album reviewed here, but Luna Moth seems to be quite prolific and deserving of a few extra clicks for some of their previous albums.

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