Black Wing - No Moon (Album Review)


 Black Wing - No Moon

(2020)


My copy: 2020 limited press on blue vinyl with orange and black splatter by The Flenser.


Dan Barrett’s first release under the Black Wing pseudonym was a shockingly colorful departure from the jagged post-punk/shoegaze edge of his main work with Have A Nice Life. Not that Black Wing was without it’s emotional and instrumental angst, rather the album painted a creative new side to the standard tortured artist persona. Five years later, Barrett revisits Black Wing only to bury the project’s originality in tired, obnoxious cliches. 

Black Wing remains slightly distinct from Barrett’s other projects as the signature sequenced percussion arrives on the scene following a slow moving intro of breathy synths on “Bollywood Apologetics.” Things are not quite offensive, though they certainly are underwhelming. All musical elements kick in too quickly, with no sense of elegance or subtly; it feels as though Barrett is eagerly rehashing his best ideas from the first record without fully understanding why those songs work in the first place. There are neat synth melodies and ambiances, but the vocals are totally lackluster and feel almost unnecessary. “Ominous 80” drips with anxiety via interesting synth loops, though the vocals again sour the mood. Barrett’s vocals sound totally flat, as if they were recorded before the music was even created, then pasted overtop. Still, the track’s brooding tones attempt to bring things back from the brink. 

“Always A Last Time” delves into a fantasia of bright organs with layered synth harps and angelic harmonies though the childishly emotional lyrics again spoil what intrigue the instrumentals had accrued. The warm staccato organs of “Is This Real Life, Jesus Christ” eventually syncopate against distorted beats though the vocals have totally lost the plot by now. Barrett unfortunately seems to be phoning things in with lyrics and delivery, but at least the deep distorted atmospheres of the three track suite “Always Hurt,” “Vulnerable,” and “Sleep Apneac” create the most vivid mental imagrey of the record. Nostalgic samples are warped into dreariness and every moment in which Barrett is not emoting like a depressed seventeen-year-old moves the album closer to a respectable effort. 

We are utterly betrayed with “Choir Of Assholes/You Think It’ll Make You Happy But It Won’t” which is cynically self-aware of its torturous vocal synths that are relieved by Barrett’s most embarrassing performance yet. The mixing is weird and the progression meanders through some faux grandosity, with laughably cliche life advice being offered through a choppy voicemail recording. This is Dan Barrett’s most unbearable track yet; it sounds like a song that would appear in an ad selling anti-depressants to indie kids. The thirteen minute behemoth of “Twinkling” basks in some worthwhile auras, but it’s all just so tiresome at this point. 

There are redeemable moments, and even some solid tracks but really No Moon feels  like a lazily constructed attempt to return to what should have remained as a one-off. Black Wing was oringinally one of Barrett’s most interesting creations, and now it has been reduced to a series of juvenile lyrical cliches with barely above average synth layering. Some of the melodies and samples are just so deeply distorted and lo-fi that it becomes brutal. If you want to remember Barrett’s work fondly, just skip this one or preview a select few tracks.

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