(2020) The Moons - Pocket Melodies


Review:
Marking their return from a six-year recording hiatus, Pocket Melodies is the 4th full-length from the Moons, an English group whose musical touch- stones include the British Invasion, psychedelia, and garage rock of the ’60s as well as later soft rock, power pop, and Brit-pop inspirations. An ambitious return, the hour-long offering is nonetheless jammed with lyrical, infectious material that frequently matches the high songwriting watermark of some of their influences. That is to say that it plays much like a hits collection, beginning with the tight harmonies, pristine jangle, slick keyboards, and skittering drum kit and bongos of the ’70s-inflected “Today.” That rousing opener leads into the more-intimate “Riding Man,” a melding of ’60s, ’90s, and 2020s production and songwriting traits that’s equally as uplifting. They deliver Gallagher-esque swagger on “The Old Brigade” while favoring classic George Martin on tracks like “Sleep” and affectionate standout “Here I Am” (“Just one look from you is all I need”). Other highlights include the brisk, countrified “Maybe I’m the Perfect Man (For You),” the cigarette lighter-encouraging “The Lone Wolf,” and “An Ordinary Romance,” a stripped-down acoustic guitar ditty with occasional strings that leaves in a few seconds of studio preparation and the sound of singer Andy Crofts’ tapping feet. Crofts was made a member of Paul Weller’s backing band before launching the Moons, and Pocket Melodies also includes a songwriting collaboration with Weller, “Tunnel of Time.” There’s little if anything worth skipping on Pocket Melodies despite its generous length, and it makes for a noteworthy debut for Crofts’ own Colorama Records label.





Tracklist:
01 - Today
02 - Riding Man
03 - The Old Brigade
04 - Far Away
05 - Tunnel of Time
06 - Where Are You Now?
07 - Sleep
08 - Maybe I’m the Perfect Man (For You)
09 - The Lone Wolf
10 - Midnight
11 - Rear Window
12 - An Ordinary Romance
13 - Sunday Love In
14 - Here I Am
15 - Today (Le SuperHomard remix)
16 - Riding Man (instrumental)
17 - Don’t Be Long (demo)


Media Report:
Genre: indie-pop, soft rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits