(Sacred Bones, released Fri 5 May 2017 on vinyl, CD, and digital download)
Conceptually, Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada of Moon Duo perform a fascinating exercise in repetition; their career-length tribute to Klaus Dinger’s pop excursions and herculean dedication to no-frills rock simplicity has constantly appeared self-aware in its taxing demands on the listener. That said, Moon Duo are relatively easy on the ears, with some of the glossiest production amid the dirge of bougie-festival-ready, neo-psychedelic acts. Perhaps that’s the point: their sound, oft-cited as ‘hypnotic’ to wearisome effect, is less a far-out LSD trip across unknown planets and more an anaesthetized afternoon hooked up to a drip.
In practice, Occult Architecture Vol. 2 is yet another collection of wallpaper tunes – not in the world-enveloping Brian Eno kind of way, but in the ‘so prevalent it’s hardly noticeably anymore’ kind of way. Barring the album’s fuzzy opener New Dawn and first single Sevens, one notable musical difference between Vol. 2 and Moon Duo’s previous outing is the relative lack of distorted riffwork. Occult Architecture Vol. 1 was held by Johnson and Yamada to be the dark counterpart to Vol. 2’s light and, sure enough, the second volume floats lightly on a clear shore. Except, it’s actually less exciting than a quiet dip in a crystalline pool. All seven minutes of Mirror’s Edge seems to pass by completely unnoticed, as does all eight-and-a-half minutes of the breathy Lost in Light, where Johnson is perfectly content with a perfunctory fiddle on the guitar neck before letting the track fade from memory. The most interesting thing about this album is that so little occurs in each track that even the hint of a small textural change – the addition of sleigh bells, for example – feels like a major event in itself.
With perhaps the notable exception of The Crystal World, an epic bongo-beat odyssey with a depth that could rival La Düsseldorf’s debut, Occult Architecture Vol. 2 is yet another point on the chart denoting psychedelia’s codification. To make use of the late Mark Fisher’s terms, Moon Duo have certainly found a sonic territory and “the vision to occupy and explore” it; it’s just a shame they aren’t more adventurous when it comes to the latter. While there is value and intrigue in Moon Duo’s commitment to cartridge paper blankness and solid brick wall dynamics, Occult Architecture Vol. 2 feels numb to the point where one might suspect a note of cynicism. It’s difficult to care much for an album that’s like a tall glass of water when what you really want is a pint of something a bit stronger.