Mindwaves
is the third studio
album by relatively unknown British band The Moons, a band I stumbled upon
quite by accident when I heard one of my favourite British musicians Paul
Weller sing on a track off their last album Fables
of History. After releasing two very, very good albums, where they have
explored everything from baroque pop to mod pop, the band have decided to go
down a more experimental psychedelic rock route with Mindwaves, all be it, with mixed results.
The overall sound of Mindwaves is high on psychedelic’s and
the band experiment with tone, layers of sound, as well as what are often quite
complex rhythms at times. There is an explosion of sonic guitars, ferocious
drums, and synths coming at the listener from all directions as if like Rick
Wakeman had infiltrated proceedings. While the seed that sows the sound all
together is the now trademark Moons sound of double-tracked pop vocals. So,
this all sounds very intriguing to potential listeners like myself, but how
does the music actually stack up on the record?
Well the album does not
start well in its quest to impress me, with a pointless instrumental called “Luna
Intro” arghhhhhhhh!!! I hate one minute instrumentals. Luckily though next
track “Society” is a psychedelic rocker with a harder edge to it than has been
seen on previous Moon albums, while “Body Snatchers” is an experimental Kasabian-like
neo-psychedelic number, which pushes things along nicely. “Fever” is next, and
apart from the songs intro sounding like the intro to the Black Keys “Howling
For You”, this song really takes the album up a gear with its Sgt Pepper
synths, psychedelic guitar and interesting chord changes. One of the album
highlights for sure. “Vertigo” I would describe as being a kind of psychedelic
dance track, with its sick drum pattern and buzzy psych sounds. Songs like this
show how much more the band are experimenting on this record and their
willingness I guess to try new things without feeling the need to settle on any
particular formula for recording. “All in My Mind” does not set the world
alight, but “Heart and Soul” definitely does and for my mind is the best track
on the album. It kicks off with a glam rock guitar riff, think Slade, think T
Rex and pounds its way to an epic finale. This is glam pop at its best, and it
is literally music to my ears. “You Can’t Slow Me Down” is basic filler, while “Sometimes”
is a bore, but thankfully the energy and attitude comes back with “Time’s Not Forever”,
and “Rage and Romance”, the latter which contains a wonderfully surprising
violin solo and a moment which I would describe as being the albums Frank Zappa
moment. Finally, the album comes to an end with the six minute ballad “On the
Moon”. Here the band were setting themselves up for that big anthemic finale,
you know, the moment at festivals where everyone puts their ciggie lighters in
the air. However, in actual fact, this song is a massive disappointment and
plods along as if the band are simply trying to use up the last bit of space on
the record.
So, all in all, in
summing up the album, I would say that Mindwaves
is not as good as their last release which in my mind was a super album,
with there being some good songs on here sprinkled in amongst some lesser
tracks. The band clearly go for a more experimental sound on this release which
I applaud them for, and move away from the baroque pop and psychedelic pop of
their first two albums, but, in the end, I was kind of expecting something more
out of all of it as a result. In conclusion then not a great disappointment, but
in no way a towering achievement either.
B
- Sam
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