Acid Rain – MOAT (single review)

Considering the melancholic and almost baroque nature of previous single Gone By Noon, Acid Rain is the perfect follow up track. In may ways it is the perfect contrast to the mood of that previous outing, opting for a more confident and vibrant beat, a more energetic and obvious groove. Although these are enough touches of cohesive familiarity and signature sonics connecting the two tracks, in many ways they also feel worlds apart, that you could fit a whole album of differing mood and emotion, sounds and styles between them. And that is exactly what Marty Willson-Piper and Niko Röhlcke, more collectively known as MOAT, have done and that album is Poison Stream. More of which coming soon…

For now Acid Rain is more than enough to hold the interest of the discerning music fan, a deft weave of shimmering, 12-string guitar energy and filmic washes of electronica, stark and wonderful imagery and cinematic sound. It is direct and engaging but also built from cleverly composed musical textures which flow in and out of earshot as required, building the song’s soaring sonic architecture when required, dropping it back to basics to create a dynamic contrast, always powering onwards to its destination, constantly revealing a new side to itself as it does so.

It’s been a while since we last had a full body of work from MOAT to revel in, understandable really when you consider the sheer workload that Willson-Piper and Röhlcke chose to juggle but if Acid Rain doesn’t pique your interest and add to the building anticipation for the forthcoming album then, well, I suggest that perhaps music just isn’t for you.