Ultraliterate indie pop about love. (Mike H: run away, run far away.) Gentle but penetrating. Male vocals, female backing vocals. The swan song, and 7th full length, from Dean Wareham’s post-Galaxie 500 pop project. As with Stephin Merritt’s songs, you can dive headfirst into Wareham’s lyrics with no fear of hitting bottom. Musically, Luna have always conjured up glorious, glacier-melting beauty from the simplest ingredients. This record is a fine example of that. On two songs Luna employ guitarist Sean Eden on vocals. He tries to sound like Wareham doing falsetto, and pretty much succeeds. (Eden’s own band, The Weeds Of Eden, is recording a debut EP.) Britta Phillips (ex Ultrababyfat, Belltower, and the onetime voice of Jem) provides her understated, but killer, bass work... and her ethereal backing vox mixed precisely low enough to drive me f’ing crazy. Highest praise I can give: this record makes me happy. Zero fluff... play any & every track or start with 3, 6, 10. No FCCs.
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1. Mid-tempo. Starts with strummed guitar and quick two-note bass. A simple and weird love ballad. “In the bathroom on the plane and on the bus and on the train I’ll write your name....” Feels faster and then fades with cymbal crash at end.
2. Mid-slow. Starts with tremolo-effect guitar. “Cindy tastes of barbeque, Cindy tastes of cream. I made a promise to the hills.” After an instrumental break gets slow, quiet, and fades.
==> 3. Mid-fast. A driving song, Luna-style. Ends by slamming you headfirst into the wall.
4. Mid-slow. A nostalgic, drugged-out, romantic, slow-dance number. “...Taking my pulse, feeding me pills wrapped up in a five dollar note.” Ends on fading guitar note.
5. Mid-fast. A remake, originally on the Close Cover Before Striking EP. “Because your surly stare is so revealing, because your feet are bare, my eyes are peeling.”
==> 6. Mid-slow & swaying. Sean Eden sings. Eden’s falsetto plus Phillips’s ethereal backing... mmmm, so tasty. Eden wrote the song but it’s so Luna that you’d never know (“You had to make another go, ’cause you’re drowning in your wonderful drink.”). Some nice pre-punk (Pink Floyd, Beatles, 10cc) chord changes and feel.
7. Mid-slow. Starts with full band, including a steel guitar. An instance of Wareham’s twisted, faux-simple lyricism. Super poppy but so brilliantly poetic and musical. Fuck. “Unknown treasures, unknown tricks, unknown pleasures, I feel sick...s.” Slow, extended fade.
8. Mid-slow. Four snare brushes, then guitar starts. Another instance of Wareham’s twisted, faux-simple lyricism. Outstanding, subtle mix with a wide range of emotional/musical colors... like a perfectly prepared and delicately-herbed dish served at the perfect temperature. “We don’t belong here. We can’t complete. We don’t belong anymore.” Slow, extended fade.
9. Mid-slow & swaying. Starts with drums. Sean Eden sings again. I guess he likes to sway. A great soundtrack for swaying.
==> 10. Mid-tempo. Starts with a few seconds of ambient sounds, then full band. A second driving song -- this one about lust. “There’s a girl in the (?) that I really want to (snuggle?) And at the supermarket, I have to bite my knuckle.” Fades.
11. Slow, sleepy denouement. Strummy guitar with meandering electronics underneath. Ends with fading sixth chord.