Timing is everything, and this adage is never more true than in the world of music. If you have the talent to build your own sound (The Pixies) you gain a level of prestige even when others take that sound (Nirvana) to more commercial success. Of course when this happens, a whole slew of bands imitate the imitators, and suddenly you’re left in a wasteland of mediocrity (Creed, Puddle of Mudd). And that’s not good for anyone.
If Twin Lakes, the EP release from Chattanooga’s Moonlight Bride, came out a few years ago, there’s a good chance it would have been a watershed moment for the band. The throwback noise of Jesus and Mary Chain merging with Echo and the Bunnymen would prove momentous and necessary, a delight amid the banal din of chill wave. But it turns out a band did just that, as The Pains of Being Pure at Heart captured a Zeitgeist people were looking for, and its success carried a host of other bands (Girls, Yuck, Wild Nothing) along for the ride.
So here we sit in 2012 and this same melodic, haunting dream pop kicks around, some of it great (Wild Beast), some not so great (Letting Up Despite Great Faults) and in Moonlight Bride’s case, somewhere in between. Twin Lakes has moments where it makes a strong argument it can wrest away from the others, but not enough of them for me to believe it quite yet.
“Diego” pretty much sums up what Moonlight Bride is all about, it’s a veritable paint by numbers of musical influences. It opens up with a gentle arpeggio guitar (Field Mice), moves into a fuzzy guitar scream (Sonic Youth) as Justin Giles (sounding much like Kip Berman) coos and croons above the racing fray. Midway through, the song returns to how it started but a little faster (a la Sunny Day in Glasgow). Did I mention The Pastels? Do I have to?
“Lemonade” is the definition of indie pop, jaunty guitar jangles propped up by a happy bass line which turns into dirges of noise. It flows directly into “Versinthe,” a by-station of synths which serves as the EP’s intermission of sorts. Seems odd a five-song album needs a breather, I half wondered if “Lemonade” and “Versinthe” were once one song (“Lemonsithe?”) but turned into two to bump the track tally.
It is Twin Lakes final song where things get interesting. “And The Death Ship Had A New Captain” enters with a creepy undercurrent of strings soon joined by a beating war drum and screaming guitar. Giles takes more control of his voice, finding inflection with the banging of drums. It borders on the best of psych-pop, seen by the likes of The Black Angels, but adds sing-a-alongs and choral chants for good measure. It is unlike any other songs on the album and makes for a nice transition for whatever the band may do next.
Moonlight Bride has more goods than shown here, playing it safe for most the album before flying a freak flag late in the proceedings. Cutting loose more often could find them navigating a course not already traipsed by so many others.
