by François Couture
Moonsongs was first released as a cassette on Thinking Plague's own label, Endemic. It was re-released on LP the next year by Dead Man's Curve with a new mix of the title track and finally issued on CD by Cuneiform as part of the album Early Plague Years. Between the band's first album, ...A Thinking Plague, and this one, the lineup changed considerably, introducing singer Suzanne Lewis, keyboardist Eric Moon, and drummer Mark McCoin to the nucleus formed by Bob Drake and Mike Johnson. Moonsongs showcases the band's ability to carve complex and twisted songs where percussion is at the center of everything. Rhythm is the key, always uneven, angular, disjointed. Guitar and synths add riffs and textures, but percussion supports everything. It gives breathtaking results on &Warheads& and &Etude for Combo,& but fails on the overlong &Moonsongs.& It seems Johnson tried to write ritualistic new music, but it just doesn't work: Sections don't fit well together, and the percussion bridge is simply too long. &Inside Out& is a contrastingly quiet piece with washes of keyboards and Lewis' voice coming from the fog. &Collarless Fog That One Day Soon& is a free improvisation. Moonsongs shows the way to the band's next album, In This Life, its masterpiece.