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Jun 23, 2015 Moonbabies By Frank Valish

In 2004, Sweden’s Moonbabies, the duo of married couple Ola Frick and Carina Johansson Frick, quietly released one of the best indie pop albums the genre had seen in The Orange Billboard, a full-length that exploded with vibrancy and life, its melodies, harmonies, and musical interplay creating an album that has far outlived any hype that the Swedish indie scene was experiencing at the time. The Fricks have laid relatively low recently, releasing only one mini-album and one full-length since 2005. Wizards on the Beach marks their return after 8 years.

Wizards opens with the rhythmic electronic pulse of “Pink Heart Mother,” with Carina hypnotically intoning an ode to independence with her husband’s background vocals providing heavy harmony. The title track rides high on a picked acoustic line and light, skittering electronic backdrop, Ola taking the lead this time in perfect melody. “Eli in the Woods” and “Playground Dropouts” are instrumentals of a sort, the latter featuring an unintelligible vocal over repetitive beats. “24” again pairs the acoustic and electronic to mesmerizing effect, Ola singing words that demand dissection, concluding with the line, “Inside this prison, inside these walls, we’re like dominoes/I’ll keep on shouting and you still don’t turn around.” “Chorus” is a heartbreaking melody of loss, loneliness, and remembrance made visceral by the haunting, aching vocal lines, and immediately following, “The Ocean Kill” shimmers to an end after six minutes, bringing the album to a close.

In its totality, Wizards on the Beach is a more electronic, soundscape-based album than the work that cemented Moonbabies into indie-pop glory. It’s experimental but still retains a distinct Moonbabies essence. The melodies are still there, as big perhaps but not as obvious. The aura is more lingering haze than jaunty bounce. But it’s a work that digs deep. It rewards repeated listens, with lyrical questions revealing possible explanations as aural textures subsume and melodies ingrain. It’s another fine work in a fine cannon for a brilliant band. Now let’s hope the next one isn’t another eight years off. (www.moonbabiesmusic.com)

Author rating: 8/10