They really only added the feature of a live drummer a couple of tours ago, and I must say, it kind of felt like he stole the show at points. However, the songs were both epic in length and expansive in scope, with walls of guitar distortion, wailing synths, and propelling drums, all of which seeped into a haze of tripped out textures.

It felt to me like this time around they had more of a flow than before, but perhaps some of that lulling sensation was due to me not being as familiar with as much of the material as I had been seeing them before. While most psych bands are typically guitar-driven, this lunar trio put more emphasis on YamadaвЂ™s droning keyboard and the relentlessly driving rhythms of touring drummer extraordinaire, John Jeffrey. I always felt Moon Duo had a particularly krautrock feel to their stoner jams, with synth than typical psych and more De Stijl-styled angular turns than your usual space-rock. It was an interesting contrast to the headlinersвЂ™ show with their front-lit projections onto a white sheet behind the band, as well as giving me some powerful Pink Floyd The Wall concert flashbacks. Her deep and wide harmonies bellowed out from behind her shadow, thundering beyond that thin fabric with such passion it left me wanting to peer deeper inside, and yet, somewhat cautious of not wanted to be a вЂњRear WindowвЂќ stalker. It ends up more immediate and defiantly confrontational than her previous personality of Circuit Des Yeux. The new material has a standing at the crossroads blues and country feel, which ism eclipsed by a far more synthy 80вЂ™s feel throughout. She has always been a penetratingly dark storyteller on her albums, and her performances have always been reflections of the epic sagas of which she wails. Yes, there is an elaborate backstory as well, which largely involves drugs, domestic abuse, and a life on the run from the law, but all of that seems to largely act as a backdrop to construct some more intensely personal and heartbreaking tales about. As strange and disorienting as this gauzy divide was, it made sense for FohrвЂ™s splitting personas to be on bold display of her foreboding lyrics and ingeniously creative stage shows. Dressed in a big cowboy hat and slinging an acoustic guitar, she and her two flanking musical companions could only be seen in silhouetted shadows, back lit by psychedelic lights and separated from the audience by a huge stretched out white sheet. Opening the show was an act called Jackie Lynn, which is actually the fictional outlaw country alter-ego of songwriter, and space-truckinвЂ™ chameleon Haley Fohr, who had previously been going by the artsy musical moniker of Circuit Des Yeux. After many nights of sedating souls to mystical slumber with lengthy droning epics straddling the interzone of psych and space rock, this new effort shows a catchier, more hook-driven side to this trippy groove of a band. This collaboration of the former Wooden Shjips guitar-wizard Ripley Johnson and keyboardist-hypnotist Sanae Yamada are known for bending minds as well as rocking socks off, but this time out was the dawn of a new moon drifting into an abyss. 2 due out on May 5, after having just released and toured its predecessor, Occult Architecture Volume 1. PortlandвЂ™s portal into otherworldly realms known as Moon Duo made an unexpected return orbit to BrooklynвЂ™s Rough Trade Records in support of their upcoming album Occult Architecture Vol.

The act musical walking papers