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Feb 3, 2017Occult Architecture Vol. 1 makes for a sorcerous entreaty to dig that little bit deeper when weighing up the relationship--and clearly quite inspiring power--of the inner world and the outer realm. Here’s hoping the second installment delivers just as forcefully.
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Feb 9, 2017Despite the similarities, for the first time, Moon Duo seems less like a side project from Johnson’s other band Wooden Shjips and more like an entity in its own right.
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Feb 2, 2017An album of woozy nuggets of sonic delirium. Step inside.
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MojoFeb 1, 2017These are top space-jams. [Feb 2017, p.90]
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UncutFeb 1, 2017As devil worshiping goes, this is pretty funky stuff, with a tight and bouncy tone throughout. [Mar 2017, p.35]
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Feb 1, 2017What is surprising is how this darker direction unearths a hitherto unearthed pop sensibility in Moon Duo with songs like White Rose and Will of the Devil recalling the gothic melodies of Siouxsie and the Banshees or The Cure at their gloomy best while Creepin’ skips along like something off The Strokes’ first album.
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Feb 21, 2017Occult Architecture Vol. 1 is a good record that’s at its best when Moon Duo fully give in to these seductive inklings, like on “The Death Set” or “Creepin.’”
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Feb 27, 2017For now, it’s a worthy instalment in the Moon Duo canon and a fine record on its own terms.
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Feb 23, 2017Still favouring extended excursions (see White Rose), their acquaintance with melody is developing into first-name terms to create a fabulously hypnotic trip.
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Feb 6, 2017Most times, Moon Duo seems to distill whole rock songs into a single measure, refracted into a million repetitions as through a funhouse mirror.“Creepin’” vamps a blues rock riff into oblivion, transforming heat and friction and diesel dust into something otherworldly. Only “White Rose” is given the room to stretch its limbs.
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Feb 6, 2017. The more challenging half of the record may still to be released, but judging by the vibrant band on display on Volume 1, we need not worry.
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Feb 1, 2017Occult Architecture Vol. 1 isn't as daring as its literary influences would suggest, but it succeeds often, particularly when it varies from its central sounds. Moon Duo should embrace the change on volume two.
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MagnetFeb 14, 2017The pulse of their motorik grooves feel more mechanical than menacing, and the decision to put '80s-vintage synthetic drums and pomp-rock synths up high in the mix distracts from evil intent. [No. 139, p.59]
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Feb 2, 2017Words surface out of the swirling maelstrom, an occult ritual within the architecture, another tone adding to mood, but always subservient to the texture, which sweeps from the muscular to the persuasively melodic.
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Feb 2, 2017It really sounds like a basic Moon Duo album, which is still a good thing, but just not as special as it could have been if they had taken another step like they did with Shadow of the Sun. This feels less like a step in any direction than it does a pleasantly trippy holding pattern.
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Feb 2, 2017Undoubtedly one for the purists, but it’s hard not to admire their focus.
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Feb 1, 2017Whereas the highlights of Occult Architecture, Vol. 1 are artful in their simple arrangements and concepts, stretches of the album could be fairly characterized as too straightforward and simplistic.