Luna
Live!
Arena Rock Recording Company
Of all the thousands of people who purchased the first Velvet Underground album and formed a band (as the quote goes), Dean Wareham has probably gotten more life out of the experience than anyone short of perhaps Tom Verlaine and Television. From his previous group Galaxie 500 to this latest release from Luna, Wareham has mastered the art of quiet intensity and understands the meshing of guitars better than almost anyone out there.
Never raising his voice above a conversational level – his between song banter is louder than his vocals –Wareham and Luna play music that is engaging without being overbearing, and live, the interplay between Wareham and guitarist Sean Eden is a sonic pleasure. The 14 cuts (12 with original bassist Justin Harwood, two with Britta Phillips of Atlanta’s Ultrababyfat) draw heavily on Luna’s acknowledged benchmark, 1995’s Penthouse, and they even travel back to the Galaxie days with “4th of July.”
Luna is not one of those bands that will blow your socks off, but the more you listen to their music, the deeper the experience becomes. One hopes that they soon find a label to call home – having come and gone from three in three albums – and settle in and make more records like Penthouse and this very pleasing live document.
Arena Rock Recording Company, http://www.arenarockrecordingco.com
