LOVER'S END

This album is very difficult for me to judge. I am a huge fan of Moon Safari, most on the backs of their seminal double album Blomljud although I have quite a soft spot for their debut as well. So I followed the development of this album on their Facebook page for the last few months, carefully avoiding any samples so that it would be fresh when I heard it. I pre- ordered a signed copy from the band as soon as they made them available.

Somehow, others seemed to get their hands on the album much faster than me, and by the time my copy arrived, the good reviews had been coming in for about a week and it was PA's top album of the day. So I had to be very careful, on the first listen, to keep my expectations reasonable, especially knowing how biased the first reviews of albums usually end up being on this site.

When I finally got to the music, well, it confused me more than anything. Perhaps it's because I listened to this CD for the first time in the midst of November, with fresh snow all over the ground, or perhaps it's because I had recently been in Disneyworld, where Christmas has apparently already started (despite the sunny weather), or perhaps it's even the deep red on the cover where their previous albums have been yellow, but something about this album sounded Christmas-y to me. Which is weird, because Moon Safari are famous for their summery sounding music. For the first three songs, I was scratching my head, trying to figure out if I was insane, but by the time "The World's Best Dreamers" came on, I was absolutely convinced. Those high, descending piano notes, combined with the vocals, just sound carol-like to me - as do the vocals in Southern Belle, for that matter.

The other thing that struck me was a bit more Beatles-isms in this album. Lovers End, Part 1., references Across The Universe when they change the chorus of "You couldn't change my world" to "Nothing's going to change my world", and Lovers End Part II always hits me as being the closest thing to the Beatles that Moon Safari has ever done.

Beyond that, the music here is composed of the same things that made me love Blomljud originally: the beautiful choral vocals, the catchy melodies, the upbeat music. Yet somehow, none of the individual songs on this album strike me with quite the strength of their best work from their first two albums. In an odd way, it almost seems like Moon Safari has found a place that they feel comfortable, like they are not reaching as far as they did with their first two albums. Now they know what their sound is, what their fans like, and they're happy to give us more of it. Yes, the music has a bit more darkness to it than their previous two (which doesn't mean a lot, these guys are so sunny!), and it feels more like Christmas than Summer, but I can't say that I feel like it adds much more to the bands repertoire. (Not that I think a band should be changing their sound completely each album - think about Yes and Genesis in the '80s ;)

That aside, this album is still immensely listenable, if you are a fan of extra-melodic upbeat music with a bit of a pop bent. I constantly have the music from this album stuck in my head, it energises me, and I've listened to this album in the last week more than any other album in the last few months. Really, one can't fault Moon Safari for sticking to this sound, when it sounds so damn good.