Moon Duo were formally formed in San Francisco as a side project of Wooden Shjips, to fuse “futuristic pylon hum and transistor reverb of Suicide or Silver Apples with the heat-haze fuzz of American rock ‘n’ roll to create tracks of blistering, 12-cylinder space rock”. Now residing in the quiet mountains of Portland, Oregan, Ripley Johnson (guitar) and Sanae Yamada (keyboard) have firmly cemented themselves as more than just a side project, delivering four brilliant studio albums. Their latest album, Shadow Of The Sun (early 2015), gets rid of the drum machine for drummer John Jeffery, who now also joins them live to make it a touring trio.

Surrounded by the dark of The Haunt, Moon Duo suddenly appear on stage. Without any acknowledgement towards the crowd, they go into their first track which felt like they had just flicked the auto-pilot button as it lacked any real passion. Things soon were rectified when Ripley takes off his jacket and starts playing with his guitars delay in the midst of a kraut impended trance. The visuals covered the entire stage in monochrome patterns that were glitchy yet mesmerizing, and engrossed every onlooker’s conscience into total fixation for the music. There was no escaping the enthralling scene in the compact crowd as they were hooked, moving as one to the hypnotic drum beat that was matched with droning synths and traveling [searching] guitar solos, creating their self-described Repeat-o Rock. There was a definite psychedelic feel to the whole performance – it was dark and mischievous.

 

For only a trio, they surprisingly filled the large stage. They were all lost in their own sound, never stopping, always a 100% focued their playing. Having the live drummer definitely paid off, adding spontaneity to the tracks – being able to add little glitchy beats and pauses to the songs constant motoric pulse, as well as a feel and depth to the music that you cannot get from a programed machine. Sanae and Ripley harmonising their vocals was a real highlight of the performance, as well as showing that their space-rock is more than one dimensional. The trippy melodies in Ripley’s wild traveling guitar solos was filled with layers of reverb and fuzz and were joyous, sweeping you away into the abyss they dwell in. By the encore, parts of the crowd where jumping to the ferocious rhythm of what was an emphatic end and were left wanting, the dream the band had created, to never stop.

 

Throughout, the audience kept erupting in sporadic howls and whistles of elation for the spacey riffs Moon Duo create. It was a shame that we never heard anything from the band apart from a quite thank you as they left the stage which seemed to be a minor gripe from some fans. However, if they had stopped between tracks it may have ruined the experience of the near continuous set – and they did come to the merchandise stall whilst the crowd was leaving. The spell they put you in, allowed you to disconnect from reality and get lost in their psychedelic swell of monotony for the time they occupied the stage – making for a powerful show.

Iain Lauder