Moon Diagrams – ‘Cemetery Classics’ album review: ethereal, industrial and danceable
THE SKINNY: Cemetery Classics, the latest offering from Moon Diagrams, the solo project of Moses Archuleta, the co-founding drummer of Deerhunter, is an inspired labour of love. Music on the album, which follows the project’s 2017 debut, Lifetime of Love, took its first breath in Tokyo in 2019 following a Deerhunter tour. Archuleta worked with his drum machines, a keyboard, an eight-track and his laptop and began to channel the sounds of the Japanese metropolis.
Cemetery Classics is a curious mixture of coherence and clarity, darkness and light, soft and heavy. As one will find in a city of Tokyo’s proportions, there are moments of industrial unease, rhythmic passion and serene reflection. Moments of nightlife energy are dispersed throughout the album by discerning moments of ambient respite. The influences are vast, but Archuleta importantly imbues the 12 tracks with a running identity of detachment and noir haze.
The album came together over five years of on-off work, allowing Archuleta some time for reflection, re-evaluation, and perfection. He cites influences spanning postmodern pop, trip-hop, shoegaze, Jan Hammer, Depeche Mode, and his love of the late Leonard Cohen. Some of these influences are much easier to depict than others.
In Cemetery Classics, Archuleta has delivered on an ambitious vision. He has celebrated influences in several intriguing corners of the musical map. In places, the ethereal quality that characterises the album and binds the songs to one another can mask the songs’ clarity. This quality was undoubtedly part of the vision, but for me, Archuleta could have dialled it back in places to allow the power of vocals and certain instrumental features to break through.
For fans of: avant-pop, scenic landscapes and late-night raves.
A concluding comment from Mark Corrigan: “Weirdly, this album could soundtrack both Jeremy’s bedroom and a pleasant stroll in the Quantocks.”
Cemetery Classics track by track:
Release Date: June 21st | Producer: James Ford | Label: No Gold
‘NRG’: Archuleta sets out on his latest voyage with an entrancing acoustic melody that becomes increasingly distanced in a haze of swirling vocals and creeping percussion. The mirage-like vocals are undoubtedly intentional, but personally, I would have enjoyed a tad more clarity. [3/5]
‘Mousetrap’: This song is a brief ambient interlude of white noise synths seasoned towards the close-by static clicks of irregular percussion and what sounds like wind in a vast rural landscape. [4/5]
‘Fifteen Shows At One Time’: Following a comparatively ethereal start to the album, Archuleta pushes through the gears to bring us a more vivid soundscape of danceable beats and tribal vocals. The influence of Daft Punk is most tangible here. [3.5/5]
‘Metallics In Fur’: In another instrumental transition akin to ‘Mousetrap’, the energy remains somewhat heightened with a rattling beat, irregular keyboard melodies and more atmospheric sound effects. [3.5/5]
‘Big Ref’: In a sense, this track consolidates what we’ve heard so far in a danceable yet floatingly distant work of avant-pop. A more assertive lyrical presence brings this one to life and has the head bobbing. [4/5]
‘Rewop’: I can imagine a song like this popping off very well at Dekmantel festival. It is only two minutes long, but it is an uplifting and energetic instrumental break. [4/5]
‘Brand New Effie’: Taking a more comprehensive dive into techno scapes, ‘Brand New Effie’ brings us an enjoyable mixture of echoing textures that build in intensity with instrumental solos and vocals towards the close. At nearly seven minutes, this is the longest song on the album. [3.5/4]
‘Neptune’: We move once again from the heady highs of the rave tent to soft, ambient pastures. Reminiscent of a film soundtrack I can’t quite put my finger on, this simple yet beautiful composition flows with orchestral strings and TV-static synth noise. [4/5]
‘Very Much My Promise To You’: This is a great example of the album’s avant-pop vision. The elements are separately familiar, but the way in which they are assembled, with the haziness that distinguishes the album as a whole, makes it a colourful beast of its own. [4/5]
‘Listen To Me’: This track is heavy by every metric. As the second longest track, it flows through highly texturised movements of industrial electro. Through the acid-house beat, an enraged vocal channels Alan Vega from beyond the grave. [3.5/5]
‘Left Hand Of God’: Before he leaves us, Archuleta treats us to another mellow and cinematic soundscape. This time, the ambience runs alongside a choral vocal, building in intensity towards a crescendo of deafening TV-static. [3.5/5]
‘Fragment Rock’: In a concluding flourish, we encounter a song that flits through conventional verses. It isn’t quite the conventional rock song the title might suggest, but it certainly contains punk-style instrumental elements. [4/5]
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