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Moonbabies War On Sound
Hidden Agenda
The Moonbabies, to put it simply, are an explosion. Their music surges with a power found somewhere in the production that is unrelenting in its ability to induce righty-tighty knob turns and repeated Repeats. From their sense of melody and harmony to the mixed layers of organic and electronic sound, whether they seem to be speeding through pop fireworks or bobbing to and fro with one of their more subtle down tempo numbers, a fully realized musical vehicle has all of it's gears turning in unison. In preparation for an eventual album release, they have bestowed upon us a disc to get us through the lonely nights of waiting that lie ahead.
Track listing:
01 War On Sound
02 A Perfect Passenger
03 Ghost of Love
04 Stars of Warburton
05 Arnold Layne
06 The Orange Billboard
07 A Minor Earthquake
08 Don't Shoot the Ranger
The songs of War On Sound don't sound that much different from the material on The Orange Billboard and to be quite honest, if the band doesn’t grow or mature or hone their sound even a little bit from their last full length to the next, that would be just fine by me. While some of the contents of this "Mini Album" fetch the ear a little more immediately than others, each has plenty to offer. The straightforwardness of the title cut, Midnight Oil’s, “Stars of Warburton,” and a demo of, “The Orange Billboard” make it easy to convert those friends who didn’t listen to you last time, while the depth of Floyd’s, “Arnold Layne” and the wired repetition of, “Ghost of Love” further your explanation that, sonically speaking, these guys are sort of an acquired taste.
Quite readily, although and thus not always easily understood, The Moonbabies maintain a level of complexity through all of these tunes that make them warrant dedicated and specific listenings. Not the stuff of mega-bucks marketing campaigns, I know. Unfortunately for some, face value isn’t enough and sometimes one actually has to really listen to this music to get the picture. It takes effort to figure out if that gasp during the intro of, "War On Sound” is the ‘shirrrp’ of Frick and Johansson inhaling dually or if it's just an effect messing with you. Opinions may differ. “Arnold Layne” may take a few listens before bliss settles in. These songs are thinkers of a grandly composed variety and they require a little physical submission.
The difference between The Moonbabies and trillions of other musicans, producers, and decision makers can be found directly inside of the three minutes and one second that comprise, “A Minor Earthquake”. The song calls for so many obvious things: Strings, a slow hip-hop loop, and something or anything behind the song’s mid-point where there is nothing happening but piano tinkling, most of which sounds single-handed. It is the exclusion of all of these boring things that used to be exciting that makes The Moonbabies so entertaining. This band knows what not to do just as much as they supremely know what to do. Pop music is known for it's simplicity, that is what makes it pop-ular after all, and in this case they one-up that by being more simplistic than simplicity can handle (in terms of the pop song equation). In my eyes they trail gold from their footsteps because of it.
War on Sound will serve Moonbabies fans well. The more succinct tunes will add fuel to gospel spreaders fire while the other material will sink in to the cannon aptly. The title track is the only song from the mini that the duo admit to putting on the new album, but the question of a certain instrumental looms over this keyboard. “Don’t Shoot the Ranger,” a way too short precursor to the disc’s hidden track is standard Babies fare that could easily dive underneath a vocal track or several as the case usually is.
While War is one part new album teaser and several parts demo / unreleased track compilation in disguise, it is a great between album supplement, providing a steady mix of classic pop wonderment and maybe-not-so-album-materialish cuts. With no word on when the new album is to be released, who knows how long War on Sound is supposed to stave off hunger. Whatever the case may in fact be there is plenty here to sort through and look back on once said album hits the street.
