There is no greater credit that can be given to a band than when there becomes a solid recognition of the uniquity of their sound. Some bands take two or three or four albums of growth and development to get their formula down, while others hit the nail on the head on their first outing; and maybe they hold it, and maybe they devolve and lose it - personnel, circumstance and talent withstanding. The New Red Moons, on the other hand, staked their claim before they even had an album out to package it in, and on their forthcoming sophomore effort, Mesmérisme, they show no indication of losing any of that pre-emptive integrity, whatsoever.
Mesmérisme comes at a good time, too - with the rising popularity of that late 60's/1970's brown and orange retro classic rock feel being the whole reason bands like The Black Keys have been so successful; sometimes it's not just how you do it, it's when. And circumstance dictates for artists, really, if that golden when is now - or if they just missed it by a few years. But where the Black Keys only occasionally offer any real creative expansion on a fifty year old sound (one that the Y generation Millennials will eventually realize has been in their grandparents' LP collection since they were born), a lesser known band like The New Red Moons is meanwhile waxing gibbous - forwardly re-inventing a throwback genre with a little more throw than back. Interesting when you consider that the ten tracks on Mesmérisme, without really being a theme album per se, speak so abundantly to the concept of growth and re-growth, flourish and decay.
Touting the same personnel as appeared on their debut release, The New Red Moons first and foremost strength is a trio of musicians who compliment each other exceptionally well. Bassist Jeff Brueggeman tends to pop up as a sort of "session" musician for a number of bands in the Milwaukee area, but his work with The New Red Moons fits the man's prolific ability most suitably. Bass players (even more so than drummers) can often go unnoticed in any given band, but Brueggeman's presence here is immediately apparent. He's about the only bass player that can make a fretted four string sound so smooth and fretless, and he seems most at home with this ensemble. Kavi Laud sits behind the drum kit once again, and seems to have taken to an anabasis percussion style on a number of songs. "How Strange It Seems" presents him in a muted knocking effect that's rather haunting in context; and of course, frontman Joe McIlheran's expansive Chuck Cleaver-esque vocal range puts the icing on the cake. Fluid and converging in ranges, most notable on the opening track "Act of Creation" - a song that seems as though it would be much easier sung in a male/female duet, yet he is the singular vocalist here (aside from some light refrain accompaniment). It's different for the sake of being so, and while it's still pretty obvious the band is working a decidedly specific classic rock style, it's exactly this kind of departure from the norm that gives them the edge they have.
In keeping, Mesmérisme adheres to a strictly analog, "no frills" kind of representation. There is virtually no unnecessary production on this album, which is noteworthy in an age where we simultaneously crave purity and ProTools alike. Anything sonically accomplished on this collection is done by solid musicianship more than by post production meddling. "Cheating On You" as case in point. The song is a tip-toeing and cool second person exposé of a cheating lover, with swelling guitar refrains that just skin your soul and leave it shivering - and no amount of production could make that more genuine than it stands by just being expertly played. Lyrically, the song is sort of a poetic irregularity, as McIlheran often skips the typical helping of metaphoricals you expect as the usual and customary dressing to any singer's message. He opts instead to very bluntly tear at the throat of the matter - on this song most noticeably, but frequently throughout the album. He has yet to have this be of any detriment, however, because his impulse for brutally direct delivery just plain works here, even where you might at first find it jarring - it just works fantastically.
As a second entry to their catalog, Mesmérisme is a solid progression in both form and style that holds true to its rootsy infulences, and at the time gives a generation spanning example of just how seamlessly one era can re-invent another - if done with the right design and intent. Mesmérisme is a truly visceral album if ever there was one, and at this rate, and with the penchant they have, there's little doubt The New Red Moons will continue to impress with every pass they make.
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