Moon Bros - These Stars

As Moon Bros, Matt Schneider is joined by Matthew Lux of Iron and Wine, Dan Bitney of Tortoise and Sam Wagster of Cairo Gang. Their Midwestern take on Americana draws as much from the post-rock backgrounds of the band, as it does the blues and country folk traditions of everyday black and white Americans, and the cross-border fertilisation of latino music. Think Calexico but played by post-rock aficionados. Think Guy Clark or Townes Van Zandt but without the languor , and without the emphasis on the song’s narrative. 

 

These Stars is an eight song album of mostly acoustic guitars, pedal steel and harmonica that emphasises the coolness with which an urbanite looks to America’s wide open spaces; not so much a romantic outlook as a detached travelogue. Musically, it's an often stunningly played album, but it mostly fails to connect the listener in any emotional way. 

 

On title track, ‘These Stars’ the short passages of pedal steel are like the distant echo of a freight train’s sirens trailing off, and what is quite evocative quickly becomes ornery as this particular  phrase is repeated too often. The rambling ‘Pitch’ starts impressively with some cascading Spanish guitar, and the folk strain is again reminiscent of Guy Clark, but Schneider’s indistinct and slurry vocals make following the narrative difficult, and there’s no chorus in sight. The slow build which characterises post-rock is absent, so the song appears to go nowhere. On ‘El Conejo’ the lack of any refrain or any repeats again provides no cogency. 

 

To my ears, there’s a real reticence about These Stars. The intro to ‘Corrido’ sounds like the entry point to some fast and tasty mariachi but like on so many tracks here, the throttle is pulled back and any intensity spoiled or diluted. Even on the hometown Americana of  ‘Wool Blankets’ there’s little variation, and I was left craving the superior Americana of West Coasters, Texans and Arizonians. 

 

On ‘AC/DC’ a beautiful turning point at the two minute mark, the stirring accord of acoustic guitars, harmonica and pedal steel for once building to a fiercer crescendo, peters out early and delivers only fleetingly. 

 

A triumph of technique over entertainment.