Album Review: Poor Moon - Poor Moon

In summary: dreamy, ethereal folk pop songs = Poor Moon. Born from the womb of the glorious Fleet Foxes, Poor Moon's debut record is lovely and unassuming, straying not far from the indie-pop road that Fleet Foxes, The Shins et al have walked over the past decade. It's certainly not ground-breaking, but fits the Sub Pop label perfectly and will no doubt appeal to the fans of the label.

Formed by Fleet Foxes members Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott, Poor Moon clearly benefit from the songwriting talent of the duo, who are joined here by brothers Ian and Peter Murray to round out the four-piece. Clearly, however, Wargo and Wescott are the driving force behind Poor Moon, during what now must be seen as a quantifiable break from Fleet Foxes (see another member, J. Tilman, who's also spread his wings with his Father John Misty project).

If Poor Moon was a bottle of wine, it would be an inoffensive, blended white, great for drinking on the balcony on a summer's afternoon with a couple of friends. It's not one to be ripping off the label and remembering, but a quaffable drop it is. At times it is rich (“Oh what a cursed and blessed sight/Possessed enchanted phantom light” – Phantom Light), although many of the songs blend into one another, swirling and mixing through the aural palette.

The main detraction from the album is that it does nothing special. It doesn't sit the listener up and make them think: “Wow, I need more than this”. But if it does, then good for you. There are a couple of Fleet Foxes albums that I'm sure you'll dig.