Moon Duo is a duo (duh?) from SF consisting from the dude from Wooden Shijps, Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada (just look how cute/badass they look together). The duo's older stuff on Sacred Bones and Woodist Records was much more psychedelic than this album. This album has a decidedly more pop-feel to it. It's an album thats takes the simplicity of pop and layers reverb, distortion and draws it out in a hypnotic way.
It's the pop element that really caught me on this album, especially on the title track "Mazes" (listen to it below). Moon Duo has crafted a pop/distortion thing more in the vein on The Modern Lovers than JAMC. There's a minimal feel that draws you into the hazy swirl in other songs like the opener "Seer". This and a few others have more of a Suicide feel to the songs. These songs are less successful in my opinion. In both cases, you are awash with psychedelic distortion of guitars and keys.
The album is a success, but it does suffer from its own sound. While the hypnotic nature of the simple beat and chords (popularized by Nue!'s metorik) give the music character, it also drags it out at times too. This is worth a listen to any fans of psyche-rock, shoegaze, post-punk that enjoy a fair dose of pop once in a while.
Similar: The Modern Lovers, Suicide, Wooden Shijps
Rating: 8.5
Sacred Bones Records
Released: March 29th, 2011
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