Vive la Void
Vive la Void

I think I never really liked Moon Duo completely: they are certainly a group (more precisely, in every respect a duo, even though in some live performances they play in an expanded formation) that has a certain groove and a nice acid and easy-listening sound. But I've always found them repetitive, and in the end, I convinced myself that for Erik "Ripley" Johnson it was more of a kind of divertissement to take a break from the vigorous Wooden Shjips sound that we have been able to admire over the years. Then, at a certain point, the band's sound objectively began to lose momentum, or at least Johnson started to get lost behind new solutions that then culminated in this semi-disaster that is the latest album ("V.") released on Thrill Jockey Records in recent days.

So in the end, it happens that in an ideal comparison (not that this is necessary) between the latest Wooden Shjips album and the first album of Vive la Void, a new solo project by Sanae Yamada, Johnson's partner (both in Moon Duo and in life), the comparison is clearly won by the latter. Recorded with the assistance of technicians Jonas Verwijnen and Phil Manley, the album was released in April by Sacred Bones Records and actually works perfectly. Reading Sanae's statements about the album, which she defines as a depiction of her memories amplifying their emotional aspects with a sound that is both spectral and somehow minimal and obsessive and with those typically kraut layers. The result is an objectively surprising album because it is beautiful, and even though somehow repetitive, it keeps you on edge from start to finish.

The aspects that stand out are probably two: the first is the quality of the sounds. Call it kraut-rock (clearly paying homage to the usual Kraftwerk) or synth-pop, these are just definitions because ultimately, in an album built entirely on the sound of synths, what often matters most are these kinds of choices; secondly, the simultaneous presence of a certain seriousness in regards to the lyrics and vocal interpretations that are almost solemn, with this "accent" let's say further emphasized by the use of vocoder and reverbs, which contrasts with an inevitable playfulness in the compositions made up of long and extended sound waves and synthetic motorik loops. No doubt about it, we are facing a great album and possibly better than the different Moon Duo and Johnson's latest works, who has indeed somewhat lost his way and might do well to return to that more woody and authentic form with which we have come to know him. Sanae, on the other hand, well done, very well done.