I saw Moon Duo play at a festival last year, and always had a funny feeling I’d come back to them. Ripley Johnson from Wooden Shjips plays guitar, and Sanae Yamada plays synths.
There doesn’t seem to be much information available about her, but live videos and my own experience at No Direction Home (UK) show that Yamada is also a crucial and awesome player in the band. Her trademark move is to swirl her long dark hair in hypnotic movements, whilst staying wildly in time. Johnson’s vocals give the sound an anchor and a twist, while his guitar varies intricately between a world we know, and another one we don’t.
The performance I saw took place late at night in a massive dark tent, with lighting from behind which made the whole thing nicely anonymous. I had no idea who they were, but I didn’t really want or need to know. I focused on the eerie guitar solos and the incessant and somehow comforting rhythm, and felt that we could all be carried onwards and inwards forever.
When people make this kind of music, the ego becomes less and less important. Moon Duo seem to have achieved a good balance, wherein they have a lot of fun playing their songs, whilst simultaneously defying bands which are all about personality, and bands which are all about introversion. They do not need the audience, but they do not hate them. They create a hovering sound, giving space for psychadelic meditation. That said, there is also a catchy cosmic pop strain. It comes through in songs such as their new single Ich werde sehen, sung in German perhaps in tribute to their recent visit to Berlin and the Krautrock influences which are so joyfully expressed in their music. The idea of perception is also expressed and continued in their latest LP Circles, inspired by an essay of the same name by the American Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Moon Duo’s most recent albums have both been separately released as remixes, with the help of some prestigious friends. Circles remixed was released this April, and it’s as formidable as the original, especially Tom Furse’s remix of Free Action. The malleability of Moon Duo’s music and their own enthusiasm for this makes me respect them a lot. They blaze the path.
You can find their music in www.myspace.com/moonduo
Text by: Martha Rowsell
Howdy just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different web browsers and both show the same outcome.