Lunasect
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Lunasect

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The best kept secret in music

Press


"Lunasect Press Highlights"


"Don’t believe everything you read. Case in point: Birmingham, Ala., prog-electronica trio Lunasect, described on allmusic.com as purveying “meditation, ethnic fusion” music yet, confusingly, is then likened to power-pop pioneer Big Star, contempo jazzbo David Benoit, psychedelic legend Syd Barrett and assorted New Age wingnuts. A more rigorous examination of the Lunasect sound suggests the late, great trip-hoppers One Dove (Jessica Grant winningly channels Dove vocalist Dot Allison’s spookysexycool aura), techno-poppers Curve, or possibly an earthier, less indulgent Tori Amos fronting Crystal Method or Dirty Vegas. Yet to avoid, no doubt, being pegged strictly as a club-floor combo, Lunasect one minute bears down on rhythmically compelling, hypnotic, Peter Gabriel-plays-space rock (“Living/ Dreaming”; “Goodnight Satellite”), then turns around to erect vertiginous walls of shoe-gazey sound (“Permanent Damage”; “Zero”). No doubt the intention of Grant’s multi-instrumentalist band mates — Daniel Farris and Jonathan Hyatt, also of dance outfit Moonbuggy — was to thwart all us armchair pigeonholers, for the group seems to revel in its disruptive hybridism. (Tellingly, Lunasect’s on a label that includes DJs and, um, twisted comedian Emo Phillips on its roster.) For every foray into synth-heavy, loop-strewn little fluffy clouds, there’s a corresponding passage marked by strafing/ fuzz guitar, heaving bass and propulsive drums. That just makes Lunasect, in the final estimation, a rock ’n’ roll band, never mind the ad hoc labels."
    - Fred Mills, Detroit Metro Times


"One would be hard put to find something as jarring as the gap between the disorienting rhythms and
textures that open Lunasect's album Points of Departure (Louipimps) and the sweet, if acid-tinged, voice of the group's singer, Jessica Grant. And for much of the record, that disconnect works in the band's favor. If there's an occasional innocence in Grant's tone -- the words are often distorted, either by technology or by throaty exercises, just beyond easy recognition -- then the dark musical backdrops suggest
innocence in jeopardy, which in turn lends the songs drama. Lunasect employs a battery of electronics to achieve its sound. All three members of the group, which also includes Daniel Farris on guitar and Jonathan Hyatt on bass, double on keyboards and electronics, and their penchant for reverberation recalls not only the epic open-sky glory of U2 but the techno-pop of Tears for Fears. "Living Dreaming" in particular starts with a guitar figure that could have been lifted from a 'Joshua Tree' demo tape, though Grant soon arrives to lend the song her own, dreamy presence. Any album with 18 cuts, such as this one, is destined to have
bum moments, but what's worth noting is that some of the best music on Points of Departure comes in the form of five relatively brief interludes, such as "Bluescreen," which recalls Brian Eno's early analog ambient records, and "Wordcage," an atmospheric bit of paranoia that could supply the soundtrack for a montage in a Michael Mann movie. Peculiarly, those five cuts are represented on the CD sleeve with colorful graphics, whereas the 13 proper songs are detailed in full. The closing song, "Goodnight Satellite," for example, has "open loop guitar, filter guitar solo ... air raid siren, vox loops, emerald synth arpeggio" and many other ingredients. One is left to imagine what it takes to build a "Wordcage."
    - Marc Weidenbaum, Pulse Magazine


"Certain albums always find their way into the CD notebook before any long car trip. Some have a pop buoyancy perfect for sunny days on the open road, others the more moving contemplative vibe of a lonely midnight highway. Add Lunasect's aptly named Points of Departure to the list of late-night driving albums. The Birmingham, Alabama trio, which evolved out of the ambient electronica duo Moonbuggy, is now a shoegazer outfit that entertains the occasional IDM and classic-rock delusion. "Bleeding Through" is basically a Boards of Canada remix of the Pale Saints; "Next Exit" is a rougher cut of Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." While musical wandering is expected of shoegazers (and Lunasect certainly complies), these wanderings never stray too far from the genre's moody aesthetic. Daniel Farris' guitars are as likely to to crash like waves as they are to gently ebb and flow. Jessica Grant's distant, pleading vocals soar above the mix only to be consumed by it. Beautiful atmospheric soundscapes like "Bluescreen" and lighter fare like the Cocteau Twins-leaning "Home" more than overshadow the plodding freeform mess of "Cold Heaven," the album's only real dead end. Put on your seatbelts, roll down the windows, and let the music take you away."
    - Norm Elrod, CMJ New Music Monthly


"Chanteuse Jessica Grant's perfect blend of sexy, effects-laden vox fit somewhere between Portishead, Natalie Merchant and the Queen Bee Liz Fraser. ...And she is just one cog in the big, shiny wheel that is this damn near perfect band. ...The talent of this trio won't let you down, you just keep listening to see what few minutes of lushness they hit you with next."
   - Coreen Wolanski, Exclaim!

- 2003


"Lunasect Press Highlights"


"Birmingham Area Music Awards: Best Album

Points of Departure, the sophomore release from Lunasect, is a huge risk, filled with challenging song arrangements, timbre experimentation and music that defies categorization. In a musical climate filled with slick predictability and stabs at retro-chic, 'Departure' is a vacation into unexplored territory with neither map nor compass. Much like Radiohead, Lunasect does not makes CDs for the faint of heart. Scattered among the more accessible songs are experimental soundscapes like "Bee Stings and Tidal Waves," "Pulling Teeth" and "Empty Eye." In many senses, this is less an album and more a movie for the blind, music made for the eyes, or a painting meant for hearing. It is a work as soothing as it is stimulating, as easy a listen as it is a challenge."
   - Birmingham Weekly


"...crushed velvet-meets-vinyl... slinky - suited for low-lit lounges... Simmering sensually, [vocalist] Grant brings a forceful attitude.. she carries a touch of the Tori Amos, but doesn't overshadow the music. The sinister live baritone guitar still wanders in on candy-striped legs and ambient washes float alongside eerie melodies.... The band has simply tightened its grip, not transferred its focus, on its ambitions. With 'Points of Departure' Lunasect have shown they are not a band that plans to be boxed in."
    - Tony Ware, Southeastern Performer


- 2002


"Lunasect Press Highlights"


"...Lunasect impart new beauty (complete with guitar freak-outs) to 'How to Disappear Completely (And Not Be Found)' "
   - Ivan Schlansky, RollingStone.com

"...as compelling to listen to as it is to chill to... some of the most marvelous soundscapes heard this side of Underworld, the band merges the world of techno/ambient/trip hop and space music into a seamless triumph of unforgettable chill-out music."
   - Coyote J., Birmingham Weekly

"Lunasect release atmospheric, minor-key 4AD-inspired tracks from their drum 'n' bassment..."
   - Tony Ware, Creative Loafing Atlanta

"...stunning ethereal pop music... masters of exquisite electro-infused ethereal pop..."
    - Octavia, Outburn Magazine


- 2000-2001


Discography


ORIGINAL RELEASES:

Lunasect
Long Lost

(2000, LPS Records)

Lunasect
Exit Zero [EP]

(2001)

Lunasect
Points of Departure

(2002, LPS Records)

COMPILATION APPEARANCES:

V/A - Variable 02
(1999, LPS Records)
"Shadowchasing"

V/A - Plastiq Music - New Music Volume One
(1999, Plastiq Musiq/Tooth and Nail)
"Ghost"

V/A - Variable 03
(2000, LPS Records)
"O.D."

V/A - Broken Factory Music
(2001, Broken Factory Music)
"Deeper"

V/A - Anyone Can Play Radiohead
(2001, Cleopatra Records)
"How to Disappear Completely"

V/A - 2NMC Sampler
(2002)
"All I Am is a Lie"

V/A - Here's to Last Summer
(2003 - Skybucket Records)
"First Light"

V/A - Spiders from Venus
(October 2003 - Skipping Discs)
"The Heart's Filthy Lesson"

Photos

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Bio

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