Moonface: With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery
Moonface: With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery– Moonface is a project of Canadian musician, Spencer Krug. If you aren’t familiar with Moonface or Spencer Krug, sometimes art speaks louder than words. Moonface is merely one of 4 projects that he’s a part of… Sunset Rubdown which resembles this iteration the closest, Wolf Parade, Frog Eyes and Swan Lake. While Wolf Parade was his most prominent project, it seems he’s never really stopped writing music with one project or another. You can pretty much rely on a release annually from him… the trick is to figure out which form he’ll take next.
With all his projects, one thing remains the same: His unmistakeable vocals, his brilliant key work and the style that comes with both. Incidentally, Sunset Rubdown has undoubtedly been my favorite of the 3 because of their unconventional sound and creativity. His debut as Moonface wasn’t as edgy as I was expecting it to be… and it was one 20-minute track so it was a little annoying. The sophomore release was a bit more promising and reminded me a lot of early Sunset releases. But, I still kind of wanted a breakout record and it clearly didn’t do that… which is something he’s able to do pretty consistently, so fair or not, the bar has been set pretty high.
With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery is probably the most ‘approachable’ record he’s written in years. From the moment it begins, it grabs your attention with a slow, ballad-like track that builds the anticipation note by note that’s overlaid with his passionate voice and lyrics. From there, the melodies are built around his keys and vocals in such a way that they pave the way for each other as they crescendo one into the other. It’s pretty rare when a record can build one song to the other like that and I haven’t heard a record of his do that since Sunset Rubdown’s Random Spirit Lover, which I absolutely loved. This LP is one beautiful track after the other with a progressive edge, his most singable melodies in years and a creative touch that only he can produce. It’s really that good.
Over the last few years, my taste in music has trended towards the electronic side of things. But every once in a while, a record comes around and reminds me why there will always be a place in my heart for indie rock that pushes the boundaries of the genre. With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery and Spencer Krug are 2 reasons I will always love indie rock…9.7/10
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