Moon Duo: Escape (Woodsist)

Moon Duo

Moon Duo: Escape

Woodsist

Feb 16, 2010 Web Exclusive By Nate Daly

Toppling the band's two previous EPs, Escape takes Moon Duo's hyper-repetitive psych drone to a new level of rock. While the drum (drum machine?) beats may never change and the bass riffs are three notes at the most, Moon Duo gets by with layers of rhythm topped with deliriously overdriven guitar wankery—I mean that in a good way.

The work of Wooden Shjips' guitar player Ripley Johnson and collaborator Sanae Yamada on keyboards, Moon Duo's songs have that same fuzzed-out, trance feel of the Shjips only they somehow manage to make a fuller, more edgy sound with only two people. While some Shjips songs might be mistaken for drunken Doors covers, Moon Duo take the path of The Velvet Underground with their excessive simplicity.

"Motorcycle, I Love You" opens this four-song set with a tambourine and a two-note riff. Hushed, echoed vocals creep in from the bottom of the mix and never fully emerge from the dense fog. Teaser guitar solos pepper the first three minutes of the track before the listener is rewarded with four minutes of down and dirty riffage. The third track, "Stumbling 22nd St." takes the same approach with a bit more song structure and more excellent guitar work. The final song on the album, "Escape," veers of into pop territory, vaguely resembling The Jesus and Mary Chain. The vocals on the title track are nearly intelligible as the song takes on a familiar structure. They may even squeeze a chorus in there before the whole thing devolves into an extended guitar jam. The simple material on this album might fail in other hands, but Johnson and Yamada pull it off with excellent results. (www.myspace.com/moonduo)

Author rating: 7/10

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