Red Moon
Demo
self-released
I'm retiring the word "shoegaze" from my personal reviewing vocabulary; I think it's demeaning and overused. I much prefer the acronym-friendly "electro-ambient dream-pop" (EADP) to instantly place the sound of bands like Sweden's Red Moon in its rightful category. This delightful 4-track demo is a sublime, confident rush of lush, melancholy drone-song from the minds of Katarina and Eva Thulin. Although they're mining territory similar to Majessic Dreams, the Thulin girls build up a chiming surge of atmosphere throughout these tracks that carries you along like a fast-moving glacier (and there's a chilly ambience that provides plenty of Nordic allure). "Nothing there" generates a soothing flow from the soft keyboards and whispery vocals, but then drums kick in unexpectedly and give the tune a stellar peak, showing the pop smarts these girls possess. "Landslide" blends a lush soundscape with just a wisp of percussion, lyrically seeming to be about a lover who can't keep his promises (the vocals are mesmerizing, but are mixed to a near drone, so the words aren't always easily discernible). "The height" utilizes acoustic guitars and a static-laden foreground before launching a fairly hypnotic rhythmic element that sounds terrific through headphones. I admire the willful creative aesthetic that goes into generating sonic landscapes like this. The lyric says something about being "in the land of the midnight sun," and the music makes you feel that you are. "Closer" is a bit reminiscent of "Victorialand"-era Cocteau Twins, with subtle alterations in the vocals-to-soundscape ratio. You get the sense that the soft female voices here could dissolve into gentle static at any moment, and maybe that'll be a Red Moon trademark, who knows. But on the basis of this first recording, the Thulin sisters are certainly engaging practitioners of this particular strain of dreamy Scandinavian drone-pop, and I'll look forward to their full-length.
- Kevin Renick