Moon Duo
have one trick that they've been doing since their first record came out in 2009. Guitarist/vocalist
Ripley Johnson
and keyboardist/vocalist
Sanae Yamada
make droning, motorik psychedelic jams that sound like the soundtrack for a road trip to inner space. Some of their albums have harnessed this trick into something magical and unique (
Mazes
,
Shadow of the Sun
); some have coasted on their trademarked sound without breaking a sweat (
Circles
). Arriving in 2017,
Occult Architecture, Vol. 1
is somewhere in the middle. The guitars sound suitably blown-out and fuzzy, the keyboards provide drones and the occasional blip of melody, and drummer
John Jeffrey
is strong on the tracks he plays on, but quite often the songs just seem to lay back and hang out contentedly instead of making a splash. There are some clear standouts, like the opening "The Death Set," which has swooning chord changes and some surprising new wave synth sounds. Or the frantically pulsing "Cross-Town Fade," where
Johnson
's guitars sound raw and nervy and the energy levels are pumped up close to ten. "Will of the Devil" is maybe the most interesting song of the bunch, as it goes beyond their usual two-chord approach to add a couple extra, as well as some spooky new wave keys. Mostly though, the record mines their trademarked psych-noise sound and comes up with something very familiar and oddly soothing. It's not a step forward or back; instead,
feels mostly like a pleasantly trippy holding pattern. ~ Tim Sendra