Moon Duo - Dome, London, 17/7/2013
by Chris O'Toole
published: 31 / 7 / 2013
intro
Chris O' Toole enjoys a set of blissed out guitar/keyboard rock from San Francisco-based group Moon Duo at a show at the Dome in London
To visit the Dome in Tufnell Park, London, one has to take a step back in time. The venue has the air of a decaying early twentieth century music hall; all peeling paint, high ceilings and a feeling of nostalgia. Moon Duo themselves occupy a similarly anachronistic position, dragging the musical mores of a bygone era into the modern day. Formed in San Francisco in 2009 by Wooden Shijps guitarist Ripley Johnson and keyboardist Sanae Yamada, the band offer a take on the low-slung, high intensity grooves of Johnson’s main band, but with squalls of 1960's acid-drenched, fuzz guitar slathered over the top. They are here in London tonight touring 'Circles', their latest release for the Sacred Bones imprint. The story goes the album was the product of a long winter’s isolation in the Rocky Mountains, but live the feeling is anything but one of seclusion, with the warm, full base of Yamada’s keyboards drawing the audience in. 'Circles' draws inspiration, as well as its title, from an 1841 essay by Waldo Emerson, of which the first lines are: “The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end.” And so it goes. There is very little respite during the show, as Yamada and a drummer added to the line-up lay down a relentless, pulsating groove, before Ripley saunters into the mix with a series of blissed out guitar salvos. Given, it is an established formula. But in these hands it works, time and again. The crowd barely moves during the performance, lost as they are in a personal introspective journey as the guitar swirls around the room; it is all nodding heads, knowing smiles and wide eyes. A few more tracks and it might have become transcendental. Moon Duo’s limited template means there is little variety in the set. It is as though they have aimed for the horizon and set off across the parched desert without any thought to supplies. When they arrive at the end of the journey, it is to bleary eyes and an altered mind. Timeless.
Picture Gallery:-
live reviews |
ME |
Amy Rawlinson photographs Australian rock trio ME at a gig in Liverpool at The Shipping Forecast |
Moon Duo |
most viewed articles
current edition
Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - Sala Apolo, Barcelona, 29/11/2023 and La Paqui, Madrid, 30/11/2023Difford and Tilbrook - Difford and Tilbrook
Oldfield Youth Club - Interview
Shaw's Trailer Park - Interview
Cafe No. 9, Sheffield and Grass Roots Venues - Comment
James Whild Lea - Interview
Pete Berwick - ‘Too Wild to Tame’: The story of the Boyzz:
Chris Hludzik - Vinyl Stories
Johny Brown - With Hector Gannet and Andy Thompson, The Water Rats, London, 25/5/2024
Mark Vennis And A Different Place - Interview
previous editions
Microdisney - The Clock Comes Down the StairsHeavenly - P.U.N.K. Girl EP
Michael Lindsay Hogg - Interview
World Party - Interview
Ain't That Always The Way - Alan Horne After The Sound of Young Scotland 2
Joy Division - The Image That Made Me Weep
Joy Division - The Image That Made Me Weep
Dwina Gibb - Interview
World Party - Interview with Karl Wallinger
Barrie Barlow - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Marika Hackman - Big SighSerious Sam Barrett - A Drop of the Morning Dew
Rod Stewart and Jools Holland - Swing Fever
Loves - True Love: The Most of The Loves
Ian M Bailey - We Live in Strange Times
Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run
Autumn 1904 - Tales of Innocence
Banter - Heroes
Roberta Flack - Lost Takes
Posey Hill - No Clear Place to Fall
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart