Moon King
Obsession II
Reviewed by Stephen Krock
When reviewing indie and alternative albums, one stumbles upon a lot of “dream pop,” which I’ve found is just industry lingo for hipster elevator music. The arrangements are all pleasant to the ear, the vocals wispy and incoherent, but it takes a rare band to rise above the mood-amplifying background noise. Moon King is such a band. They reach for the stars, if you’ll excuse the pun, and create a dream from which you would never want to wake up.
In a continuation of the 2012’s Obsession I, their newest EP, Obsession II, brings a multiverse of layers to each song in a satisfyingly chaotic manner that I found reminiscent of 80s David Bowie. A higher compliment, I do not have. It would be easy for such an approach to come off as sloppy, but Moon King makes it work. And they achieve something which a lot of dream pop promises, but fails to deliver: the urge to move. I found myself handbangin’ and toe tappin’ the entire time; from the killer opening track, “Violence,” to the more subdued and hypnotic, “Almost Blue.” The standout for me, though, was “Appel,” with its insistent electric guitar strums meshed flawlessly amidst futuristic bells.
The vocals are standard for the genre: perfectly fine, but more wafting and incidental than a driving force for the sounds that surround it. In the case of Obsession II, the vocals are the least interesting part of their tracks’ many layers, but an integral layer, nonetheless.
Moon King is just a great listen, plain and simple. If you’re looking for an electro-industrial sound a la Sleigh Bells, but not quite as harsh, you need only look to the moon.
Rating: 
