Lo Moon - Lo Moon

Lo Moon
Lo Moon
Spotify
2018

In 2016 "Loveless" came out and catapulted Lo Moon into the upper echelons of indie music. Suddenly they were on festival lineups, opening on big tours and getting loads of press from the sites who still think Lord Huron is still the most cutting edge music happening right now. This one track made it seem like this band was going to be the next Alt-J or Glass Animals, but oh how wrong we all were. This debut Lo Moon is nothing more than 50 minutes of trying to recreate "Loveless". Vague love songs about vague ideas that have no real grounding in reality at all. It's almost like Coldplay but somehow more whiny and worse. Two years ago this sound was at the very end of it's popularity with Lo Moon sneaking in just under the radar. However where "Loveless" is incredibly produced and really varried in it's sound, this album barely scratches the surface both musically and lyrically. "Loveless" is also a fucking seven minute epic, it's a one off, not something you can build an entire album around. The execution of the record feels jam bandy at best with the group stumbling into sounds and tracks with little regard. You get the sense that this Los Angeles based band seem to think they are the Doors or something, with lyrics that are far to flowery and shrouds any point they have in nonsense. At over fifteen minutes in you are just three songs into this thing, causing ti to drag and drag like crazy.

This is an album from a band who is really assured that their sound has merit, because it is delivered with such deadpan earnestness. You would expect some humor or maybe something to be slightly tongue  in cheek but the entire album is super serious. The lighter songs like "Thorns" (you may be thinking right now does he say "thorns of a rose" in this song and yes, yes He does) do nothing to help the pace, and the trumpet solo at the end of the track is so grating. Nothing on this record is anywhere near concise or direct, everything has to have an extended outro or intro, as well as solos from damn near every member of the band. It feels self indulgent, like someone who noodles around on the guitar for WAY to long when other people are around. The sensuality of this record is so juvenile, it doesn't feel adult or sexy it just seems like what a 17 year old boy thought would make for a sexy indie record. "Tried to Make You My Own" is so damn sappy and makes Lo Moon seem so incredibly emo. There is zero edge to this record and zero risk. In being so sure that a collection of songs that sounded like "Loveless" would work they really did themselves a disservice. Lo Moon is just an almost fifty minute bore, hard pass.

4.4 out of 10