The album opens with a great dirtied up pop song called "Sweet Lemonade". Right away, the listener gets a sense of the caliber of what is coming on this disc. The vocals are fantastic, the song structure strong, and the melody catchy. "Lemonade" fades out to reveal "Dream About You." This is one of my favorite tracks on the disc. It has falsetto vox over slow, pillows of keyboards that change into distorted guitar, keyboard, and an 80's feel that's fantastic. This is a mid-tempo tune that reminds me of a cross between Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Echo and the Bunnymen, and A-Ha. This is not to say that the song sounds like these bands, but theses comparisons are the only way I can seem to describe the great mesh of sounds and style. "Beautiful Arctic Star" is a hypnotic song with backbeat, xylophone, piano and vocals deeper in the mix. "From a Distance" is an instrumental at medium pace. This piece is beautiful and serene with acoustic guitar, keys and this great wall of sound. The wall of sound is almost grating, almost too much, but it doesn't quite break the peacefulness of the tune. It's a perfect blend of soundscape and noise.

"Don't Know Why" is a slower tune that has a melody similar to "Beautiful Arctic Star." This is a stripped down song with vocals, acoustic, drums and some noises here and there. Again, the descriptor is "serene". "Colder Days" has a different feeling from the rest of the disc. It is very alt-country with a twang in the acoustic guitar and a light brush used on the drum kit. Although I am not a fan of alt-country, this song actually suits me. There are sprinkles of xylophone and keyboards in the mix to help balance the country feel of the tune. "1950ad" is actually my favorite song on the disc and is the anchor. It is a fast-paced song with a fantastic melody. There is great piano in the mix with a classic 50's pop feel.

All in all, this disc is eclectic and amazing. The songs really hang together even with the preponderance of influences. Savill and Hewson have made a follow-up disc worthy to remain in music lovers' players for a long, long time.

reviewed by: Somewhere Cold

My impression of “shoegaze” or “shoegazer” or whatever it’s called is pretty much based on my contact with My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless – while I appreciate that record very much and find myself listening to it very regularly, I’ve never had the inclination to look deeper into the genre, never had the chance to hear much of Ride or Slowdive. So for me, at least, Monster Movie seems more focused on writing complete songs, with discernable verses and choruses, than I would have expected based on the band's musical heritage.

This release is a very relaxed affair – the songs drift lazily into one another on waves of guitar noise. These songs never really give the impression that they’re headed anywhere in particular, which I suppose is the point, though it doesn’t make for a very engaging listen over the length of the record.

The album begins with “Sweet Lemonade,” one of the band's most straightforward guitar pop songs. The song’s main riff recalls Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips, but it is perhaps a little too cutesy. “Dream About You” trades guitar for synthesizers, and the song’s electronic drumbeat is reminiscent of something New Order or OMD might have written. Its more urgent feel is more or less unique on this record, and it provides a welcome change.

When Monster Movie hits upon the right hooks, as in “Beautiful Arctic Star” and “Memento,” it’s not difficult to lose yourself in the sonic textures. However, such moments are in the minority here, and the rest of the record is fairly nondescript.

reviewed by: Josh Hoey for Delusions of Adequacy

The album kicks off with "Sweet Lemonade", a brilliant 90's style Britpop song, full of the bounce and joy of that era, kind of like early Blur. Juxtaposing 80's synth sounds with the attitude of more modern indie pop is what the next few songs are about, and they do this marvelously. "Dream About You" could be lifted from a Human League record just as easily as it could have come from an early 90's shoegaze record. "Beatufil Arctic Star" will surely go down in the history books of wrongly sung along lyrics, right next to Hendrix's "Excuse me while I kiss this guy…" I can't help but singing "Beautiful myopic star", even though I know what the lyric should rightly be. The music is mostly a bit downbeat and thoughtful, and "Don't Know Why" is a perfect example of how well this band can pull in the heart of the listener, and keep it hooked for a four minute interlude that seems shorter but somehow longer, all at once.

To The Moon is filled with character and charm, as well as brilliance and magnificent musical ability. That's what keeps me plugging it back into my cd player over and over and over again, with no end in sight to this cycle. I'm hooked on the music of Monster Movie… it chills me to the bones. It's like an Alice In Wonderland ride through the mind of someone as gifted as Lewis Carroll; full of wonderful surprises at each turn and wonderfully ever-changing landscapes and strange characters, but without all the opium and mathematics.

As an aside, for all you record collecting, trivia knowing kids out there… Remember Slowdive? One of these guys was in the original line-up. Can you guess who? Send us an email and let us know. Perhaps you will win something.

Perhaps not.

reviewed by: Embo Blake for Hybrid Magazine

reviewed by: Mike for Copacetic

Staying fresh and moving forward without slipping back into old habits isn't always easy -- Scott Weiland can attest to that -- and although the overall tempo of this impressive sophomore full-length is faster and peppier than Savill's Slowdive days, the temptation to slap on some vocal overdubs and drown everything in a thick coating of fuzz occasionally creeps in, albeit not for long. The focus here is more on crafting winning melodies than creating atmospheric dronescapes. To this end, Savill and Hewson seem up to the task, stretching out and psychedelicizing where they can, but jerking the leash when the tunes start to drift off into the ether. Most of To the Moon's material clocks in at under three minutes, but their snack-sized suites don't skimp on the meat.

A classic headphone record, To the Moon will hook you with its sonic richness; sonorous guitars chime and hum all over the place, the bass rumbles like an underground river, and multi-tracked voices sing or whisper from the margins. The guitar is the guest of honor here, Savill firing off cloud-splitting blasts and shimmery riffs that reek of Badfinger and Big Star, but the often barely-there vocals also add a winsome texture.

While you can hear elements of Savill and Hewson's prior projects in Monster Movie's loose, lush pop, this material's sunnier feel owes more to the contemporary countryish nuevo-psychedelia of Beachwood Sparks or The Shins than the fuzzy atmospherics of yesteryear. The slow-rolling splendor of "Don't Know Why" is really the only track that skirts close to Souvlaki's space lullabies. For the most part, especially in the chiming guitars and waterlogged harmonies of opener "Sweet Lemonade" and the big fuzzy closer "1950da", To the Moon is about the blithe optimism found in sunrises and open highways, of the uplifting power of carefree pop. When the sun hits, it sounds like this.

reviewed by: Steve English for Splendid

“Beautiful Arctic Star,” the album’s third track, is a gorgeous and expansive song that combines piano and synthesizer to create a sound that is at once simple and vast. By combining chiming synthesizers, (that call to mind a music box melody), repetitive piano and fuzzy drum machine percussion with a sonorous and resonant electronic backdrop, this track manages to wrap the listener in a blanket of sound without sacrificing the perfection of any of its individual details. In a similar way, the vocals on “Beautiful Arctic Star” are perhaps the strongest on To The Moon and exhibit a fully appropriate clarity that is undeniably suitable to the thematic elements of this song. Following “Beautiful Arctic Star,” “From A Distance” is a delicate instrumental track that joins strummed guitars and rich synthesizers to create a fluid wall of sound that displays such movement that it calls to mind early Love Spirals Downwards in its liquidity and beauty. Ironically, or perhaps by design, this track begins with an acoustic slant, quiet chimes and gently strummed guitars that subtly bend into a rich synthesized ocean - providing the perfect segue into the one track on To The Moon that most lends itself to the inevitable comparisons that Monster Movie is bound to draw.

Much has been written about the fact that one of the Monster Movie’s two members, Christian Savill, was once a member of the madly popular dreampop bastion Slowdive, and while it’s possible to find elements of both member’s former projects in To The Moon, the album’s 5th track “Don’t Know Why” is perhaps most reminiscent of Savill’s days as a dreampop legend, but even that’s a bit iffy. With it’s gentle waves of synthesizers woven delicately throughout a rhythmically undulating acoustic guitar combined with soft and drifting vocals that, on this track more than any other, appear driven towards being just another part of the instrumentation, it’s easy to draw comparisons to the bygone Souvlaki era. However, such comparisons are not only a bit dicey, but also largely inaccurate. Clearly, rather than walking old roads, Monster Movie is focused on blazing its own trail, which it does with nearly complete success on all of To The Moon’s 11 tracks. In fact, any delusions the listener may have had about Monster Movie being a Slowdive throwback are dashed on the album’s 6th track “Colder Days” which, as the title suggests, is an autumnal marriage of acoustic guitar and dual vocals wrapped up in one sweet melodic package. Elements such as the familiar chimed synthesizers that we’ve heard on earlier tracks and a brief hint of harmonica in the song’s final seconds make “Colder Days” a charming and warm arrangement that help to differentiate Monster Movie from either band member’s prior musical incarnations.

Unfortunately, this attempt to rid themselves completely of the ghosts of Slowdive and any other lingering specters that may still haunt them from their days at Sarah Records seems to have run amok on the album’s 7th track “Good Grief.” This noisy, disjointed instrumental not only appears completely out of place on To The Moon, but it also does very little to illuminate the band’s strengths. If anything can be said about this track it is that it fully lives up to its name, leaving the listener, with raised eyebrow, reaching for the ‘skip’ button. Although not nearly as tragic, the album’s 8th offering “Memento” is also a similarly regretful and piercing foray into the world of brit-pop that stretches both member’s vocals nearly as much as it does the listener’s patience. Fortunately, just when it appears that To The Moon has taken a turn for the worse, the album’s 9th track “Out of Touch” reminds us why Monster Movie is a musical force to be reckoned with. This sweeping and dissonant track is not only the album’s longest, but it is also one of its best offerings. Setting aside the musical prowess displayed on “Out of Touch,” one of the most remarkable aspects of this track seems to be its metaphoric role as a musical portrait of its duo creators. The juxtaposition of both acoustic and electronic elements is not only beautifully realized but also adeptly illustrative on this track, giving the listener a sense that somewhere within these layers of beauty there’s a lesson to be learned from the marriage of two distinct styles. This duality is also fully demonstrated in the song’s vocals, which echo each other in a discrete and haunting refrain. Truly, this is a brilliant track that, alone, would make To The Moon well worth the purchase price.

Rounding out To The Moon, “Nobody Sees” is a lovely lullaby of a song that gently swoons. Relying on piano and deliberate, pinning synthesizers to punctuate the brittle vocals, this track seems the most emotional of the album’s offerings and achieves a certain fragility despite its depth of sound. “Nobody Sees” also appeared as the final Monster Movie track on their recent split EP with shoegaze rockers Dreamland. However, on To The Moon, Monster Movie chooses to wrap up their second album with the lively and fuzzy pop-rock gem “1950da” which, after the purposeful leisure of “Nobody Sees,” is a musical shot in the arm, not to mention a decidedly appropriate ending to an album that manages to feel completely natural while never once becoming predictable.

All in all, To The Moon is a wonderfully composed album that is well suited to a variety of musical experiences. While some tracks, such as “Dream About You” and “Beautiful Arctic Star” are perfect for the kind of intimate listening that can only come from strapping on the headphones and closing your eyes, and mind, off to everything but the music, still others, such as “Sweet Lemonade” and “Colder Days” lend themselves to being turned up loud in the car on a crisp autumn evening ~ letting the music mingle with the falling leaves. The real success of this album, however, lies in Monster Movies’ ability to create a collection of songs that allows for both types of experience without ever feeling foreign or out of place. Despite a couple of questionable tracks, To The Moon is not only a triumph, but one of the best albums of the year.

reviewed by: Jennifer Jones for Losingtoday Magazine

Noisy guitar, swirling keyboard textures, hypnotizing drums and dreamy melancholy are the keywords for the English group Monster Movie's second album To the Moon.

Monster Movie consists of, a.o., Christian Savill who used to play in the English group Slowdive that in the early 90s were a central part of the so-called shoegazer scene. All things considered, Monster Movie also belong in the same genre with their music that is dreamy and blurry in its structure, and in several songs the group also makes use of noise as a central effect.

The very first thought I had after having listened to a couple of songs from the album was that Monster Movie sounded much like Grandaddy. Besides a certain similarity in the vocals, it's especially because of an extensive use of keyboards that on the one hand are used as a force in the more up-beat passages, and on the other hand are used in the more quiet passages to expand the musical space via atmospherical soundscapes.

This goes for e.g. Dream about You where keyboard sounds, that are almost encircling the vocals, are used as effective interludes and as a contrast to the main structure of the song that is progressive indie-pop with a synth figure as its revolving point. The song splendidly illustrates the scope present in Monster Movie's music: On one side it's introvert shoegazer, and on the other it's more poppy.

Monster Movie use simple and easily recognizable themes that are turned and twisted and put into a more complex sonic universe. This more poppy side is definitely an asset for the band; thereby they don't appear as introvert and navel-gazing which some shoegazer bands tend to.

Despite the resemblance with Grandaddy in several songs, Monster Movie shouldn't be reduced to a second-rate band. The music is of a too high quality for that - and the group also strikes other chords. To the Moon is not an album that expands the frames for rhythmical music, but all the way through the group shows that they are creative, and they succeed to a high degree getting guitars and electronical means to fit together.

Monster Movie is a part of the indie scene where nobody frowns upon using the studio as an important part of the music. The sound picture is massive with lots of layers on top of each other, but the mixing is done in a way that lets different instruments weave in and out of each other. Many of the songs consist of progressions that are repeated over and over again but where the production has added a development.

An example is the wonderful Beautiful Arctic Star which is built around the simple theme of a glockenspiel which drums and a gloomily sounding bass figure rotate and develops around. In the same way, the vocals are used as the central part in the more poppy songs while in the more floating songs they are mixed as an equal supplement to the other instruments.

Even though To the Moon appears as a nicely cohesive unit, it's actually quite varied, which I see as a great advantage. Many bands in this genre make music where the songs melt together into one big identical mass where it's difficult to tell apart the songs from one another. Instead, Monster Movie have chosen to give the respective songs their own distinct identity, and this makes the record easier accessible without compromising with the general _expression.

So, you can find a massive wall of noise in the opening Sweet Lemonade and the closing 1950da, Interpol-like rock with tight guitars and drums in Memento and a soothing and dreamy ballad like Don't Know Why.

Even though it's easy to find English bands that Monster Movie remind you of, the group still plays a kind of music that is miles away from the kind of indie rock that has dominated the past couple of years on the British Isles. Here are no Coldplay-like, semi-acoustic ballads, and there's a long way to the style and image-fixated new wave rock that is dominating at the moment. In that light, it's really symptomatic that Monster Movie is released on an American record label.

By all means, it's wonderful to have it confirmed that there are English groups that play something else than what is the current trend in the NME-dominated music world.

reviewed by: Rasmus Bækgaard for Undertoner

reviewed by: Ben Vendetta for Skyscraper

So "Sweet Lemonade," track one on To The Moon (it's a Honeymooners reference), seems a bit the curveball. It's a pure 'n' simple pop ditty, verses punctuated with "hey"s and a chorus decked out with a catchy guitar hook. Maybe it's an experiment in formula, or an endearingly futile attempt to get Top 40 play. Either way, it's good and doesn't work.

The album slowly draws back into old habits. "Dream About You" keeps the upbeat pace, but its vocals summon back the dented pop melancholia Savill does best. "Beautiful Arctic Star" slows the beat down and plays an electro-hymn to hopelessly unrequited love, sad as a teenager's obsessive crush on a "Best Supporting Actress" nominee.

The real hit single here isn't "Sweet Lemonade," but "Memento," which may have been written in the middle of the night by a freshly awakened dreamer struggling to recall, at once, an old crush and a soaring Gary Numan tune that played on the radio while he slept.

By the conclusion, To The Moon has explored moody depths untouched by Last Night Something Happened. "Nobody Sees" runs a wounded dis over a "Pomp and Circumstance" keyboard sleepwalk. When it hits the lyric "It must have been humiliating for you / I've made a million mistakes just like you," its cubist empathy chills the bones.

PS: If you discovered the Jesus and Mary Chain via Lost In Translation and you'd like to hop on a trolley that's still moving, open a new window and download Monster Movie's "1950da" immediately.

reviewed by: Emerson Dameron for Dusted Magazine

reviewed by: Sergio Porracchia for Bedifferent #11