There’s a part in “A Golden Dawn,” after seven-and-a-half minutes of building and releasing various mystical chord progressions and trance-inducing rhythms, where the song just rips apart at the seams. The Moon Is a Dead World is an impossible combination of extremes, but is that much more effective because these influences are taken to such deliberate stratifications. Gospel’s sound is more lo-fi and acerbic than other hardcore bands, yet more grandiose and epic than other prog bands. They capture 12-string guitar and synthesizer like they’re a pair of beat up Gibson SGs. Instead they compose songs that arc like marathons but can be executed in under four minutes. Punk’s energy and prog’s technicality are a well-explored, even trite combination, but Gospel avoids the predictable path of overlaying fast riffs and off-kilter time signatures onto a hardcore background. The Moon Is a Dead World is a centaur of completely different genres it has the fierce, animalistic body of emotional hardcore and a prog / psychedelic head. How could an album so unexposed and buried be such an unquestionable gem? However brilliant and original the album may be, it’s even more abrasive, alienating, and challenging, which has embalmed and preserved The Moon Is a Dead World as the strange masterpiece it was, is, and will be. Despite this profound obscurity, Gospel’s 2005 LP, The Moon Is a Dead World found its way into the top ten of our best of the decade list and was even the most nominated album, appearing on a staggering 81% of staffer ballots. If you search the world wide web for reviews and interviews you’re going to find a measly collection of blog posts and amateur reviews. They released one album and then broke up without explanation. In all, while this decade may have more creative and groundbreaking albums, but perhaps none are as profound as The Microphones The Glow, Pt. 2 is not your average listen, as it is challenging and equally mystifying, but once understood, the feeling that follows listening to the album is undeniably refreshing. It is with these moments that Phil Elvrum is able to truly show his capabilities of songwriting and lyrical prowess. It is at times disheveled, but the meaning is never lost as drums defiantly pound over Elvrum’s mum vocals, which exponentially add to the glumness story behind “The Moon.” Quite simply, it is one of the greatest musical stories told in such a unique way, connecting the natural world with the human, emotional world. 2 as a whole will allow such appreciation, though tracks like “The Moon” are able to be taken aside to be appreciated. 2 has an intangible presence surrounding the record that makes it simply divine. Like Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, The Glow, Pt. Listening to the overall ambiance of tracks like “instrumental” and “My Warm Blood,” Elvrum’s specific mood is mimicked through each creaky piano strike or through the disjointed manner in which he strums his guitar. 2 is a nostalgic journey siphoned through Elvrum’s lyrics, yet the underlying emotional threshold is frequently rephrased through non-spoken portions as well. Even so, their musical output sounds so much grander and richer than an album with top-notch production, and there is a simple reason for this, specifically highlighted in The Glow, Pt. Listening through their discography, you would imagine most of the recordings were completed in the attic of a log cabin, and that certainly may be the case. The Microphones are about as lo-fi as lo-fi music gets.
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