Moon Duo: Mazes

- It's not that surprising that the second full-lengthfrom San Francisco's Moon Duo is getting a local release in Australia. Moon Duo comprise Sanae Yamada on the synths and Erik 'Ripley' Johnson dragging his guitar away from the wall of noise that is Wooden Shjips for this side-project. Where previously Johnson and Yamada did what would seem logical with repetitively crashing washes of psychedelic guitar noise and a synthesiser and made mind-bending kraut-rock, they've taken a different approach on Mazes. It's slightly ironic that they went to Berlin, the home of unforgiving musical punishment to do so, but this new record represents the closest thing to a pop record that Moon Duo, Wooden Shjips or really anything that ever originally crawled off the Woodsist roster has put out. The formula is a simple one - Sanae sets up the song with the synth and Ripley blats everything with two chord guitar noise; maybe a few lyrics are chucked in if they really want to go all out, then they let that simmer for a bit (though never for as long as a self-indulgently kraut epic can be), before Ripley cuts sick with a guitar solo and... mission accomplished. It isn't quite that simple, thankfully, or this could get pretty boring, pretty quickly. Each new number represents enough of a variation on the theme to justify its existence to the listener in a credible manner. If opener Seer is the archetypal stoner epic: 7 minutes of guitar fuzz churning like a washing machine, well they've suckered you good, because then they hit you with the poppiest tune on the album, the positively summery title track and it's first single. The synth melody bops along over the top like a Wiggle at a Grateful Dead concert (I'd like to see that, btw) and it's impossible not to be caught up by that catchiness. From there Mazes cuts back and forth with tracks like the ethereal kraut of Scars to the rollicking psych of Fallout and then the downright groovy rock'n'rolling of When You Cut - a definite standout. The production is clean and makes a most accessible balance between pop gem and thunderous psych: like a sugary cupcake with a couple of tabs of acid hidden in the middle. For the Australian release we're being treated to the deluxe version which comes with a disc of remixes from the likes of Cave and Psychic Ills. It's kinda funny that, for the most part, the remixers have chosen to annihilate anything poppy and warm, dragging the Moon Duo sound right back into the realms of the most unrelenting kraut and psych. In a way it makes a nice counterpoint with the original. Moon Duo have made an instantly likeable but not at all disposable record, and it's great that we're getting to have another go at it down here.

- Chris Cobcroft.