Love. That nebulous, indescribable feeling. Jake Ewald of Slaughter Beach, Dog has always been an acolyte of love, crafting dutiful, sincere tracks of romance. But they’ve never sounded this good.
“At the Moonbase,” the fourth album under the Slaughter Beach, Dog moniker, dropped with little fanfare on Christmas Eve. It simply appeared.
Previous Slaughter Beach, Dog records were relatively standard folk rock. There was acoustic and electric guitar and drums. But album opener “Are You There” adds synths and saxophone to the mix.
The sound is more expansive on “At The Moonbase.” Genres bend sharply, snaking from the jazzy 80s pop of “A Modern Lay” to the pulsating soft rock of “Song For Oscar’s.” Each track is brimming with bombastic, memorable moments. “Thinking of You” is centered by an incredible saxophone solo and Billy Joel-esque keys.
This album feels like the true evolution of Jake Ewald as a musician. Gone are the days of Modern Baseball with its effervescent guitar licks and bubbly, awkward lyrics. That loss would’ve saddened me a lot more if “At The Moonbase” didn’t exist.
Growth in sound is important, but ultimately, I’ve always been drawn to Ewald’s prose. The lyrics of Slaughter Beach, Dog are just as much of an attraction as the instrumentals.
As always, Ewald attended to the details. He was able to conjure vivid, distinct images of American life and caramelize abstract feelings such as love.
“Szechaun string beans,” Ewald sings on “My Girl.” “Crab Rangoon, honey. I can’t eat Happy Family by myself.”
At its heart, “At the Moonbase” is a record about love. But it’s not that saccharine, Hollywood type. It doesn’t forego the humanity of the characters experiencing said love. Realistic, human love is entwined within each stanza.
“You always know,” Ewald said on “Thinking of You.” “What I need to hear.”
“Now here’s my summertime boy on the street by the beach,” Ewald sings on “Fell in Love.” “I know sooner or later he’ll slip out to sea. But, oh my God, how he rolls down the window to wave, hi, to me.”
“At the Moonbase” is measured in its instrumentation and poetry. Its lyrics capture specific feelings and the music behind it catapults them forward, ingraining themselves in the mind of the listener. It’s the first nice surprise in a long time.
