The inexhaustible Spencer Krug of, you know, every Canadian band ever – well, Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown and maybe only a bazillion or so credits on various other records –is back in his Moonface guise.
After his Dreamland EP last year, Moonface returns with an 8 minute swirling pop epic ‘Fast Peter’, a teaser for his album Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hope, which will be released August 1 via Jagjaguawar.
It starts with an eighties-sounding looping electronic riff, and almost immediately you feel the approaching swell of sounds – a whirring organ, some kind of woodwind purr and then, after about 60 seconds, a reassuringly solid bass pedal envelope the mix. It all creates an atmosphere of warmth and feeling, under which the original electronic drum beat chugs without overpowering – a perfect melding of digital and analogue sounds.
When Krug’s melancholic baritone enters, the track becomes suddenly sad, and the high-tempo electronic drums take on a different meaning, it is now the party, which amplifies your loneliness, where you drink to forget instead of celebrate. Simple sorrowful lyrics talk of modern youthfulness and cynicism – of drugs and um…Skype. Then the mood changes again – the bass takes a noticeable and optimistic few steps upwards, and the drums bow out, leaving the pulsing organ and more playful, organic sounding synths above which a chorus sing a repeating motif, .
More like a movement than a single track, ‘Fast Peter’ is a playful and ambitious pop epic that strides through mood changes and an impressive, shifting instrumentation but still maintains a sense of continuity. This is truly original music with an appealing lack of pretense and great fun to listen to.
At only five tracks, but with a running time of 37 minutes it seems likely that with Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped, there will be more of the same from Moonface, which is an appealing thought. Krug has written on the brevity of his album’s track-listing, that it is dense, but he hopes in a satisfying way, ‘like eating a small, heavy piece of cheesecake.’ Swoon.
“Fastpeter” by Moonface by DOJAGSC
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