Micropixie
Dark Sight Of The Moon
One Little Alien
Micropixie is a compact, beige, female alien being trying to find her way on planet earth. Human behavior in illogical to her and she’s trying to figure out how she can live with these strange beings. Dark Sight Of The Moon completes Micropixie’s journey and completes a trilogy alongside Alice in Stevie Wonder Land and The Good, The Beige and the Ugly. It’s a journey that finds out alien friend having mixed feelings about becoming human (a bit like Doctor Who’s love for earth people but frustration with their irritating tendency to do stupid things like start wars and hate other people for no good reason).
Dark Sight of the Moon marks a shift in tone for Micropixie. On previous records, Micropixie told her stories over an economical base of electronic sounds and beats. On Dark Sight, the little alien girl is becoming more and more attuned to the humans around her. Her voice has settled down to be an element of the music with her voice blending with the tones. The music is still chill, down-tempo electronica, only now the tones of acoustic instruments enhance and enrich the mix.
Dark Sight of the Moon is composed of nine songs and six interludes. The interludes have the best titles (“Aunty Disestablishmentarianims,” Back to Our Future”) and make clear, if oblique statements like, “I think the question is not what we should do with Artificial Intelligence, but what we can do with natural stupidity.” That comment leads into a song called “NPD” (Narcissistic Personality Disorder), where our alien friend imagines being in the mind of a certain President.
The first proper song, “New Years Day” muses on how humans look for new beginnings in spite of things like a “terrible economy” and “pain and strife.” “Como Minimo floats along in a psychedelic haze with phrases like, “at least you know, you can say no” and “yes is the minimum” floating to the surface. It’s the chilliest declaration of rights you’ve ever heard. Micropixie lays down the law that consent is everything in relationships. The Universal, with its general air of positivity feels like something Belle and Sebastian wishes they had written. The closing track has a frank description of seeing comfort in the physical. Someone asks, “It might sound a bit weird but could I use your body just to ease my pain. See your body just to tell my body not to pay so much attention to my brain.”
On one level, Dark Sight of the Moon is a great album to chill out with. If you want, you can pay close attention to tease out the deeper observations of the human condition by our little alien friend. Either way you approach the record, it’s worth your time.
