Ten years in the making,
Lifetime of Love is the debut of
Moon Diagrams, a solo project by
Deerhunter co-founder and drummer
Moses Archuleta. He began tracking it after his post-rock band wrapped up work on 2007's
Cryptograms. With an experimental bent that differs significantly from that of his more guitar-centric band, the album incorporates ambient instrumentals, samples, field recordings, and styles like disco and ambient techno. It opens with "Playground," a ghostly electronic-choral prelude that should adjust any expectations. "Nightmoves" is another atmospheric instrumental. On that track, restrained electronic noise and guitar eventually join humming synths, well-established hi-hat and bass patterns, and a bass drum that insistently pounds out 120 bpm. A more animated instrumental is the 14-minute "The Ghost and the Host," which features more percussive textures and rhythms in addition to, as implied by the title, spectral effects. Written after the breakup of his marriage, "End of Heartache" is one of the album's two more straightforward verse-chorus-type songs featuring
Archuleta's singing (the other being the more brooding title track). A sort of lo-fi house track, it borrows from the
Nile Rodgers school of syncopated guitar, combined with glistening, melodic synths and the singer's melancholy plea to be allowed to stick around. Much like choosing the name
Moon Diagrams in part because he liked the way it sounds,
Lifetime of Love is more about aesthetics and movement than message or structure, but it's got a little of all of those things keeping it anchored in the familiar. ~ Marcy Donelson
