Album Review : Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun "Heavyweight Champions" EP

Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun hail from Atlanta, Georgia. They are a four-piece electro pop band, and their most recent EP, “Heavyweight Champions” was released in October of this year.

This record is definitely catchy. Nearly every song has me moving a bit and singing along while it plays. Lead singer Lauren Gibson has a great voice; in turns sweet, powerful, pained, and sinister. The band is also quite versatile. Each song has a distinct personality. Track one, “Bones” is strong, opening with an explosive feedback sound and continuing with fuzzed guitars and a solid beat all the way through. Two, “Apologia” continues Bones’ strength – a little slower, but just as in-charge, guitar and drum driven with a few well-placed space-age electric sounds. The third and title track, “Heavyweight Champions” changes the mood – starting with electronic sounds and piano, the body of the song has a slower, shuffled beat and sultry, noirish tone that would be well at home in a divey lounge of the Blade Runner future. Tracks 4 and 5, “The Atlantan” and “Faster Than Some” share a more acoustic, stripped down sound with less drums; in case you need a rest and an intimate chat after all that dancing.

The final three tracks are the weakest. “Like it (remix a)” and “Or Not (remix b)” are two different versions of the same song. Both have more processed vocals, drum machine sounds and layered vocal samples. The first one is busier, very clubby, lots of electronic breaks; the second a bit gentler, with an echo-y a cappella intro and synth strings. The final track, “Never. Always. Good” continues the theme with handclaps, X-files-soundtrack type synth sounds over a heavy beat which sounds like a mix of drum machine and acoustic, processed robot-style vocals and electronically produced stutter echo.

Now, the last three tracks are by no means bad. They are decent songs, and well done dance club remixes. I may be an unfair judge, since I don’t listen to dance music. However, after the individuality and quality of the first five tracks, a dance club remix that sounds like any other dance club remix is a letdown. Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun is a great band, and Lauren Gibson a great singer. I’d like to hear them do more of what makes them great and forget about trying to sound like everybody else – they’re better than that.

From their myspace page "Southeast Performer Magazine Shoot (OhSnapkid.com)"