Review: Heavy Moon - Heavy Moon XII

Heavy Moon is the solo project of Jakob Rehlinger from those Canadian kraut/psychonauts Moonwood...a band I have admired for a long while now. 'Heavy Moon XII' is, unsurprisingly, the 12th release and is another trippy journey in Rehlinger's astral chariot. Released via Arachnidiscs it is deeply immersive and wonderfully psychedelic tape that is a genuine trippy affair that transports you to the heady days of classic kosmische and psychedelia....it is a bona fide gem!

Although there are nominally 5 tracks on the tape, they go to make up 2 side long suites and work best in this context. Side A is 'Pink Eclipse / Vertical Horizon' and starts in the best way possible...rich washes of kosmische synths that come across like the love child off Pink Floyd circa 'Dark Side...' and Tangerine Dream. Over this lays a guitar tuned to the key of 'cosmic'...trippier guitar you will not hear. It all comes together to form something that is deeply, deeply psychedelic and supremely blissful. It is utterly beguiling, dragging you in and holding you. As it progresses it changes in infinitesimal steps....an elongated chord or an extra electronic effect....but change it does but the overall vibe remains one of kosmische zen. The shift from 'Pink Eclipse' to 'Vertical Horizon' sees things become a tad heavier, more rooted in psychedelic prog but still retains a stellar quality. The layers seem to be deeper and denser at this point but such is the mastery of Rehlinger and such is his lightness of touch that one still remains suspended in his web of psychedelic wonderment.

The Side B suite is comprised of 'Cosmos Embryos / One Last Red Desert / Rockwind' which takes the baton from Side A and runs with it....more sublime kosmische synths and acid guitar interplaying with each other to weave a tapestry of such a deep psychedelic hue that you genuinely think you are listening to some long lost krautrock gem...authentic and sympathetic to both the sound and the ethos of the time.

This is a simply superb tape...that Rehlinger is a fantastic musician is a given (well, to anyone who has heard any Moonwood/previous Heavy Moon material) but the atmosphere and the sheer psychedelic nature of this particular outing is mind-blowing...quite literally! From start to finish it holds the listener in a trippy rapture that entrances and exhilarates. Head over to the Arachnidiscs Bandcamp page here or the Heavy Moon page here to get one of the damn groovy tapes or a download.