Waldo Emerson 1841 essay “Circles” states that “the eyes are the first circles, the horizon when it forms is the second and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end”, in simpler terms he believed that the circle was the central organizing law of the universe. How exactly does this philosophical idea connect to the psychedelic sounds of San Francisco’s twosome Moon Duo (Facebook/Twitter) well his essay is the name and inspiration for Moon Duos sophomore Circles and its more then a suitable and befitting title for this album.
In keeping with the spherical theme of things it appears from its first impression that Moon Duo have done a complete 360 with this album, by that I mean they have landed right back where they began a year ago with their 2011 début album Mazes. If the circle is the symbol for infinity then the same notion can be applied to the repetitive contextual design of the musical construct of this record. The band has stuck with basic structural element of their debut consisting of the 4 key driving elements that make their sound unique to them. Short and simple vocal burst, drawl tone guitar, celestial synths and big hitting thuds of percussion. Not wanting to break too far from convention, Circles has kept to this low key blueprint of a rhythmic cycled paced drone tempo.
While simplicity is key here, its delivery is far from nice and easy as the album kicks off with a Moon Duo signature style full force assault of intense zoned out guitar fuzz. Lead single Sleepwalker is familiar ground for fans who will recognise their remedy of a strong and steady beat, a repetitious streak that was heard, not only trough Mazes, but a recipe served up nice and tasty trough out the 48 minutes of this album. Heavy guitar layers are smoothed over with the cold and breathless vocals, fresh and hazy but with the feel of taking in a short and sharp breath of fresh air.
I Can See and Circles alleviate a little of the icy tension with some light and loose grooves, there is a weightlessness to the start of this album but dangling like an anvil above your head ready to drop, its rhythm is still filled with punchy percussion pulses and cyberpunk murky guitar solos. It’s the jangle guitar breaks that help fracture the lengthy frequency of this album, it helps keeps thing interesting and stops the record from sounding tiresome. Take the mystical guitar interludes in Dance Pt 3 which zaps some much needed energy into Circles monotonous lucidity. It would be quiet easy to fall under the albums translucent spell of hypnotic and trippy vibes but these interlude help fan the pace.
The knots and tangles of guitar plucking seem to flow easily from Ripley Jignson’s fingers; he manages to free wheel his skills throughout this album with ease. His cord plucking expertise break trough the distortion and reverb on I Been Gone and Sparks, seemingly controlling and commanding the fuzzy echoes of guitar.
Minimalist repetition is what makes this albums foundation, but the enriched drone of kaleidoscopic rifts and blocks of clambering drum flare on track’s like Sleepwalking, I Can See, Circles and Free Action posses just enough dexterity for this album nor to fall into complete obscurity.
Circles is combustion of mechanical cosmic noise, with each song clocking in on an average of 4 minutes long you do begin to feel like you on some kind of lengthy far out psychedelic space age trip that transcend space and time, a possible ethereal infinity and nod back to Emerson way of infinite thinking, I think when listening to this album its not so much about the destination but the journey getting there.
Circles is out now on Souterrain Transmission and Sacred Bones Records.
