A Seattle based quartet with members from Fleet Foxes and Crystal Skulls, Poor Moon takes its name from a Canned Heat song which ponders over how mankind will destroy the moon once we’re done with good old earth. Why the band chose this as their name isn’t something which is overly clear on their eponymous debut.
What is clear though is their heritage as folk alumni, as the sound of their other projects flows right through the record. The band’s acoustic touch and elegant harmonies makes it hard not to palm the act off as a side-project which simply sits in the shadow of the glorious Fleet Foxes. If there’s anything to gain from this record, it’s that every member of Fleet Foxes is as talented as you’d expect and it’s not just a one man Pecknold show.
The minimalist and mellow folk on Poor Moon starts off with the bare essentials. ‘Clouds Below’ and ‘Phantom Light’ kicks things off with ultra laid-back acoustics; whistles dominate the opener.
The album gradually awakes from its slumber, building with each song as the band seemingly add in more instruments to the fold. The piano and xylophone find a home on ‘Same Way’, but it’s not until ‘Waiting For’ that the album really starts to protrude a hint of energy. An electric guitar with some fast drum beats helps the song to be a centrepiece-of-sorts on an album that never strays from its consistency.
While the album might never fall below a persistent level of quality, it never strives to be something interesting or alluring. By the time ‘Pulling Me Down’ comes on – in an album that just hits the thirty-minute mark – you can’t help but be disappointed by Poor Moon’s languishing sense of being unremarkable.
Its definitely not from a lack of talent and nor does the album particularly grate your ears, but it does, by the end become undeniably bland.
Poor Moon don’t convince on their debut to be mind-blowing or strikingly brilliant, but the album is sure to win a few over, because it’s so very, very easy to listen too.
– Corey Tonkin
