MoonJune 2013
Blazing prog from Brazil brings exotica to the concrete jungle and back again.
Beyond the realms of tropicalia and metal, South America still remains a dark recess on the world music map. It comes to pass, though: given MoonJune’s immense contribution to cultural globalization and preservation of national motifs in the tuneful narrative, it’s only logical that the label’s reach took this trio under its wing for their third platter – indeed, the Sao Paulo unit deserves much wider recognition. Just like his pen-wielding namesake, guitarist Nelson Coelho paints slightly surreal yet crystal clear pictures, and once the rarefied atmosphere of “Windmaster” morphs into harmonic gale, punctured with Jorge Pescara’s bass, there’s no turning back from its throbbing beauty – weighty but lucid, molten but transparent, as it also is in the thick of the title track.
If it sounds like oxymoron, “Unimpossible” sees its bluesy sway sprinkled with deceptively discordant picking before fiercely stacking one melodic layer over another in a wild proggy way, while “Dorian Grey” marries jungle groove courtesy of Miguel Angel’s drums to heavy riff with a dark undercurrent that shakes and shivers under the hard veneer as befits the piece’s subject matter. Still, darkness doesn’t dominate here, the portentous “Tarde Demais” letting out shards of sparse, if tightly lyrical, twang, and “Lydia In The Playground” adorning its sharp carcass with an exquisite strum-and-soar in the upper register and elastic glissandi at the bottom end. And whereas “Vintitreis” offers murky vibes, “Sand Horses” offers a rocky gallop, dramatic and arresting after the pounding “Whereisit” rides a merry, though pale, figure, too. “Chromaterius” promises to brings it to a close in an academic manner but resolves in an ominous racket which heralds a new wonder. May this tribe not be the last.
*****
