The Lovely Moon: Moonlight Drift

Artist: The Lovely Moon
Title: Moonlight Drift
Label: BFWrecordings
Catalog No: BFW202
Release Date: April 16, 2013
License: CC BY-NC-SA
Genre: Ambient / Drone

On Moonlight Drift, the fifth full release from The Lovely Moon (a side project of the Bing Satellites) they carry on this tradition with a precision and attention to detail that is most delightful.  Nothing is too dark in these recordings, although each track does have a color palate of its own.  Some of the tracks have a slight rhythm to them, but not the kind of things that takes you away from your focus.

I have listened to this release over the past few evenings as I focus on writing other articles for the CerebralRift.  While I will say that sometimes I want things that are more rhythmic, less spacey, I find that my concentration on writing is actually enhanced when listening to this recording. This will be the second piece that I finish this evening, and I think I will have time to work on finishing a third piece, all due to this recording.

But, that isn’t to say that there isn’t anything to listen to in this release.  Each piece is a setting of its own.  They have structures and variations, and can be fully focused on.  With a focused listening you will notice all the tiny details in this work that you didn’t notice when you had it on as background music. Even now I’ve just started listening to Mystery again, and notice the subtle changes in the tone clusters, and variations in timing.  And I know that each track is like this, totally subtle in the way it is structured, and totally designed to be relaxing, and non focus infringing.

And that’s an accomplishment in this style of music.  Certainly many of the better practitioners attempt to achieve this level of music.  Some of them reach that goal, and many don’t.

So, hats off to The Lovely Moon for practicing an art form that seemed to have been relegated to the bargain bin recordings found in the chain department stores.  This isn’t a Narada style generic release.  These are finely crafted artful expressions that sit well apart and exceed at what they set out to accomplish, on multiple levels of listening.  Pick up this release, and let the moonlight drift across your mind.