Moth Effect - Crocodilians

'90s electronica meets indie jazz guitar, together they watch a perfect sunset. Electronic head music for the wee small hours.

Moth Effect is the recording alias of one man from Sussex That man's real name is Andy Le Gresley. Crocodilians is his first full length release, and is now available on vinyl thanks to the good ears at Sunstone Records. An intriguing wordless affair, it's electronica characterised by drones, repetition, and gradual mutation over gentle mid-tempo beats.

This is psychedelic music that doesn't require a bowl-haircut or a paisley shirt. It's music that takes elements from Kraftwerk, Hawkwind, Durutti Column, Sabres Of Paradise along with countless others, and weaves these disparate threads and strands into a unique tapestry. One that's at times beguiling, yet always interesting and worthy of attention. And one whose rewards grow with each listen.

There's a distinctly European feel, almost Balearic. Beatific too. To call it mood music would be a diservice though it does have a similar effect as watching a a good sunrise or sunset. Not so much comedown music, as happy-where-I-am music. With bass guitar motifs to the fore, guitars and art-rock keyboards are given free reign, avoiding blues scales and cliches, yet searching for sonic invention. This meeting of '90s electronica and exploratory indie-jazz guitar is surprisingly fruitful.

Humour plays a part too. Fingerbobs may reference the early '70s kids TV programme but unlike the folksy, homespun music of that show it takes it's cues from the kosmiche musik that made its mark during that era. Throughout the album you're reminded of “music for schools and colleges” - a soundtrack familiar to '80s schoolchildren everywhere. In this sense Crocodilians has similarities with Lemon Jelly's Lost Horizons album, though it's far less twee and jokey.

The overall feel of Crocodilians is hypnotic, refreshing and curiously optimistic, at odds with current tastes and fashions but all the better for it. It's quite unlike anything else around at the moment. Close your eyes, turn off and float downstream. Or failing that simply head towards the light.

Click here for Moth Effect on Twitter.

Click here for the Sunstone Records website.