Moonface

Spencer Krug takes time off from his many, many projects for an odd, evocative solo project...he may not be totally happy with the instrumentation, but I think it works.

Moonface
Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped
(Jagjaguwar)

Spencer Krug first tried out the Moonface concept – and name – a couple of years ago, for a 20-minute, one-track EP called Dreamland: Marimba and Shit-Drums, an odd, intermittently striking combination of polyrhythmic tonal percussion, lo-fi drumming and Krug’s fluttery, indie-evocative voice. His second entry in the Moonface catalog is, in many ways, a far more conventional experiment, substituting (to his evident chagrin, per the title) the more customary accompaniments of organ and programmed beats for malleted percussion.

This is a significant shift. While you can, at times, hear the organ’s repeated, staccato riffs as drummed melody, the overall effect is far more melodic and sustained. “Return to the Violence of the Ocean Floor,” for instance, begins in a clipped pointillism of organ sounds that might as well be played on a vibraphone as a keyboard. Yet only a minute or so goes by before richer, more fluid tones creep in, slathering over the plink and chirp and tweet with mysterious undertones.

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