Allan Moon "Song of the Wind" (Independent, 2008)

The virtues of simplicity

There is a pleasingly unpretentious aesthetic to ‘Song of the Wind, from its relatively straightforward sleeve design to the stripped back nature of the music contained within. It is a spare album, almost the bare bones of a sound. There is often little more than a single guitar, sometimes acoustic, sometimes haunted by the ghost of electricity, with only occasional embellishments such as a harmonica or subtle leads dancing around the vocals. Moon’s voice itself does not disturb the pattern, a hushed but resonant instrument weaving words through the quiet beauty.

The melodies are equally simple but the combined effect is a captivating hypnotic quality, which at points seems almost eerie. Indeed, Moon evokes a backwoods American gothic without resorting to any of the clichés which have established themselves over the last ten years. There are hints of a British tradition here too, especially the work of Nick Drake and John Martyn. Such comparisons also stand with regard to the lyrics, which in maintaining the dominant modesty of the album attain a lucid poetry.

Sadly, over the course of an entire album, the plainness wears a little thin. The only real deviations from the prevailing sound are the swamp blues of ‘I Want You Sunday’ and the jazzy ‘Carousel’ but these are not quite sufficient in preventing you from pining for greater melodic invention or instrumental colour. Whilst the songs are never long enough to outstay their welcome, it means that the work as a whole ultimately palls. However, given Moon’s unaffected sound and undoubted lyrical talent, he exhibits great potential for the future and the best songs here are compelling in themselves.

Date review added:  Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Reviewer:  Kai Roberts
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link:  Artist website