Review: Heavy Moon - Nine

Heavy Moon is the solo project of Jakob Rehlinger, member of that ace Canadian psych/krautrock group Moonwood. 'Nine' is, unsurprisingly, the ninth trip out for Heavy Moon (pretty much an album a year since 2006) and the first of three to be released this year. The press release describes proceedings as thus : "these trips bubble like moon magma, drift like solar winds and groove to a kosmische mash-up of 'Meddle' and the 'Jesus Christ Superstar OST." and that's as an apposite description as any - Rehlinger takes us back in time with a sublime kosmische trip. (you can a read a Moonwood review and interview with Jakob from last year here)

'Vesuvian Twilight' immediately sets the tone for the album, a hazy, dreamy atmosphere built with a simple bassline, some spacey effects and delightful, eastern tinged guitar..it's all very relaxed and tranquil. As the track grows it flourishes into a track worthy of early Floyd (and I don't use that comparison lightly)..the guitar has a rich but psychedelic tone to it that takes the listener drifting away and the addition of some what sounds like electric piano gives it all a genuine early seventies feel. 'Vesuvian Dawn' keeps on the same path but throws in some excellent kosmische touches...the same swathes of synth that Tangerine Dream etc made their trademark and, coupled with some more excellent guitar from Rehlinger, the track is probably even more heavenly than the first. 'Cryptodome' ups the tempo a tad but without losing any of the inherent languid trippiness. The electronic aspects of the track urge things forward and are matched by the guitar but it is not hurried or hectic but feels more like a long lost kosmische soundtrack. The wonderfully titled 'Jesus, George and Ringo', with its groove laden wah-wah and pseudo-orchestral stabs of synth twists the kosmische into something more contemporary but no less trippy - at times it veers dangerously close to synthwave but the ace guitar from Rehlinger brings it right back into deep lysergic territory. 'Pink Eagles' opens with choral-like vocals, straight away giving the track an angelic vibe, and the music matches this beautifully; the guitar is mellifluous, positively dripping from the speakers, and with the krautrock electronica makes this a sublime track...it lulls the listener into a dreamy reverie...great stuff! 'Orbital Drift' has all the same ingredients but conveys a darker vision....the guitar is still lysergically luxurious and the synth work harks back to some Shulze classics but things have a somewhat pessimistic vibe....visions of a lone space explorer lost in the outer reaches of the cosmos, alone except for his thoughts and memories. The album is closed with 'Goodbye Blues Guy' - oscillating synth drones and bluesy guitar make for a another nostalgic trip back to the heady krautrock days of the seventies.

I've long been an admirer of Moonwood but had never really checked out Heavy Moon, which I now realise was a big mistake on my part. On 'Nine' Jakob Rehlinger has taken some authentic kosmische and added some wonderful psychedelic guitar to create trippy visions and atmospheric soundscapes. As I mentioned, some of the guitar is genuinely Floydian in its class and its richness and, coupled with some authentic electronica, it all makes for a pretty darned wonderful album. The only downside, of course, being that I have now got to go back and investigate the first eight albums.....but that shouldn't be a hardship! 'Nine' can be streamed/ordered via the Arachnidiscs Bandcamp page here and is available as a download or on CD.