Lunar

Turbo (2004)

Matt_Whelihan

Instrumental bands always run the risk of leaving listeners confused and put off by atonal dissonance and calculus-formulated time signatures, or leaving listeners bored by simplistic movements and a lack of creativity. Lunar, unfortunately, suffers from the latter of these ailments.

On Turbo, the band's third album, Lunar finds themselves playing songs that too often sound like typical rock tracks with no singer, rather than an instrumental group. The band just runs through chord progressions instead of delivering complex or interesting instrumentation. There is an overall lack of leads and none of the instruments seem to play a melody. The simplicity of the structures leaves you waiting for vocals to kick in. "Pizza Song," the only track on the album to feature any vocals, finally fulfills this need, but disappoints in the process. When Vlado, a guest vocalist, sings, he comes off like a clone of recent retro rockers like the Bravery and Action Action and adds nothing to an already dull song.

Lunar succeeds when they evoke the slowcore of Mogwai on songs like "Radio Free Interference" and "Alpa," or when they bring to mind the ambiance of Low Level Owl-era Appleseed Cast with songs like "Il Grabador Grande" and "My_Moon." However, even within these songs, Lunar finds a way to slip out of the clutches of viable instrumental music so they can flee back to their bastion of bland, straightforward rock.