Iran - Moon Boys
(tUMUlt)
I had a really strange dream the other night. In it, I was in this house, but the house was a doctor's office, and the doctor wasn't a real doctor... and he was trying to get me! He had this giant saw, and he was chasing me, and I kept having to throw things at him to fend him off. Finally, I got the saw from him (thank goodness!), and... well, I killed him. Later on in the dream I was with my parents, and we were standing in the kitchen of our old house, and this guy who lives in my building came to the door to bring us some money. At first I was happy to see him, until I realized that he was also, much like the doctor, trying to get me. So I beat him up and he turned into a giant purple water monster, so I got into my submarine and kept trying to get him. I guess this is what happens when you play Grand Theft Auto with friends all night... but still. What a strange dream! The only reason I mention it is that Iran's music is similarly violent and bizarre, hard to peg down and at once likeable. To me, at least.
Moon Boys is, at first glance, a remarkably incoherent album, switching from downtempo lo-fi indie rock to a mess of feedback and distortion to strange guitar ballads back to downtempo indie rock and then once again to messy distortion. Songs like the minute long sad-fest opener "Tee Hee" segue into the fuzzy "Four Armed Star" and nothing seems to make sense. The album's booklet boasts creepy line drawing and a picture of two men sitting on a couch, one wearing angel wings and staring at his feet. On the cover is a Polaroid of a woman in a flannel shirt. Disconnected? Yes, yes, yes.
But as you begin to listen to the album little similarities present themselves, and the distorted noise tracks become less confrontational and more purposeful. This is a concept album, I think, and it's all about the lifespan of an abusive relationship. "Tee Hee" is the plotline summed up, with the last line of the song alluding to the end of the story: "the last thing you'll see will be me with my hands 'round your throat," before drifting into the fuzzed-out harmonies of "Four Armed Star," which ends with a simple, noisy drone, and contains heartfelt and happy lyrics. This is followed by "Locked Up Tight"—which adds a sinister element to the music without forfeiting the lyrical content. Iran's resident genius of sound Aaron Aites sings sweetly over the clicking percussion track and the softly played guitar, and, while his lyrics in the song range from politely sad to furious, he sings in the same tone, which adds to the overall strangeness of the song.
The album's real highlights, though, and the songs that make me think that Moon Boys has a central theme, are the two parted "Black Eye" and the fuzzily beautiful "Fading Out". The first part of "Black Eye" comes early on, and features a field recording of a man screaming "Jesus Christ I Love You/Jesus Christ I Let You Down" again and again, overtop of the same guitar figure that is used in the second part of the song. It's only a minute long, and doesn't compare to the second part of the song, which is really this album's shining moment. "Black Eye II" is just electric guitar and voice, with some of the album's saddest lyrics. "And I don't know what you mean/things are just as they look like/things are just as they seem/I don't want you to cry anymore/You were looking out the window/I was walking through the door." It's the most direct song on the album, with various references to the relationship disintegrating and the lack of communication that makes dealing with this disintegration impossible. Likewise, on the stellar "Fading Out," Aaron sings the line, "You don't have to say that I'm fading out" over and over, while the song gets gradually fuzzier and loses its structure. Aside from that lyric, the song boasts some more of the same remorseful remembrance. "I pulled the sheet over my head/we were lying in your bed/you laughed but you're still leaving anyway"—yikes. If there's one thing this album isn't, it's happy.
Things close out with the quiet "Long Time Now," which has the same lyrical theme: getting away and being happy. But after what the album's taken you through, you realize this will never happen. The relationship has ended and the narrator knows this. It's a bittersweet recollection of all of the good that happened and how easily things fell apart. The song ends as it gradually gains intensity; the guitar line gets more intricate, bass comes in, and Aaron sings: "it's a long time to sit in the moonlight/maybe it's time for you to sleep/if you notice that gleam in my eye/it's a secret I'm going to keep". This album starts as it begins: with an overall recollection. And the two songs that bookend Moon Boys are so wonderfully depressing and remorseful that it's hard not to enjoy them. This is a great album that's worth your time to seek out.
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