After Randolph Chabot released Keepers, a loose compilation of his output spanning a decade's worth of home recordings, from the ages of 12 to 22 -- he decided to take Deastro in a new direction by incorporating a live band and recording in an actual studio, this time with drummer Jeff Supina, guitarist Mark Smak, and bassist/keyboardist Brian Connelly. The result is surprising -- mainly because it really isn't all that different. In essence, Moondagger sounds more like a lap-top creation than an organic jam, with synthesizers coating everything in an '80s pastiche that's not too far off from M83's Saturdays=Youth or Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion. Even though the record is extremely electronic, it's still warm and colorful. Starry arpeggios fight it out and blur together in Deastro's headphone fantasy land as he conceptualizes a prince's quest for a mythical "moon dagger" that bequeaths ultimate power to whoever holds it. Like the album's concept, which comes from a dream that Chabot had, the listening experience is dreamlike in its wooshy and surreal grandeur. It's fitting that the concept sounds like it was inspired by He-Man (he had a power sword) or Lord of the Rings (the quest part), considering that Deastro's moniker is a play off the name of the bad guy in GI-Joe cartoons. Cartoonish as his songs may be, they're actually quite earnest, in spite of their irreverent titles and nebulous themes. Moondagger's centerpiece, "Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed in the Heart with the Moondagger by the King of Darkness and His Ghost Is Writing This Song as a Warning to All of Us," is a new wave dance blast with a peppy melody about rebuilding a damage-stricken city, and "Vermillon Plaza" plays like an eight-bit version of a U2 stadium anthem, with Chabot commanding, "beat our drum, because God is on our side." Because the album is so continuously lush and candy-coated with a shoegaze gleam, no particular song really sticks out. Instead, hooks surface slowly from the electro-wash, rewarding repeated listens.
© Jason Lymangrover /TiVo