An international nine-piece ensemble that combines acoustic and electronic instruments and that brings in a variety of guest singers like J.G. Thirwell and Barry Adamson to help articulate their vision has the potential to add up to something spectacular. While there are some good moments,
Our Moon Is Full was too dry and unfocused to hold my attention.
Central Control
Melody is at a minimum here, and collages of accompaniments frequently hold the songs together rather than a central vision. The album's production quality is pristine, the digital and acoustic elements blending together effortlessly, but sometimes it's at the expense of the acoustic instruments' rich timbre, lending them a sterile quality that doesn't do them justice. The songs mostly hinge around the guest vocalists rather than strong songwriting. J.G. Thirwell delivers the best vocals of the album on "Asphodel," weaving his multi-tracked layers in a dazzling tapestry, but they're hard to enjoy when some of the glitch beats and ringing instruments override them. "Chrystallize It," with vocals by Scott McCloud of Girls Against Boys, is probably the most fully realized song on the album because it stays focused rather than wandering all over the place, which unfortunately is the case with the overlong but otherwise great "Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness." Things finally clicked for me on "When the Sun Burns Out Another Sun," but unfortunately that didn't happen until seven minutes of the track had already passed. Even though the album runs a fairly average length of 50 minutes, the frequent meandering makes it feel a lot longer.
