THE SUN OR THE MOON- COSMIC (2021)

Tonzonen Records

Germany CD 51.04

https://www.tonzonen.de/

https://www.facebook.com/thesunorthemoonband/about

Rating 90/100

Although ‘The Sun or the Moon’ band (not to be confused with the UK punk band of the same similar name) have their feet planted well within an idiom that could be likened to that of a space-rock. Their sound is far more wide-ranging than such a generalised title as ‘Space Rock affords, that is if their album ‘Cosmic’ is anything to go by. In a sense, the band themselves have recognised this fact by wittily bolting on a ‘Lounge Music’ moniker to their overall description.

From a music perspective, the album is packed with multitudes of entrancing, combinations of shuffling drum and bass lines that are so totally encaptivating that they draw you firmly into a tranquil inner hypnotic state. There seems to be a definite but slight nod towards the Jamaican ‘Dub’ fraternity in the assembly of the driving and repetitious bass lines. These musical percussive backbones then act as ingenious platforms for multitudes of melodic adornments and sound effects to be assimilated into the mix creating avenues of harmonic pleasure. There is certainly a clear melodious intent built into the structural make-up with nice flurries of piano and other keyboard interventions. Particular interesting is the ‘Steely Dan’ flavoured ‘Twisted Kamasutra’ with its rasps of treated guitar, bossa nova beat and incredible bass lines. A track with pretty cool vocals too.

Summary: An extremely good interesting album, full of wonderful musicianship throughout giving a special modern twist to ‘Space Rock’. File under ‘The Space Rock Lounge.’

The four musicians from Frankfurt, Rhine-Main Region in Germany

Frank Incense (vocals, bass, baritone guitar, electric sitar, modular synthesiser),

George Nowak (guitar, theremin, green flute),

Susanne Baum (piano and keyboards) and

Niklas Ciriacy (drums and percussion instruments

Cosmic

The Sun Or The Moon

1 Cosmic

2 Twisted Kamasutra

3 Eldorado

4 Julia Dream

5 Trippin’on Mars