El Vy Return To The Moon review

Image: EL VY 

Fans of The National and Menomena/Ramona Falls probably had varied ideas in terms of what to expect when Matt Berninger and Brent Knopf linked up for El Vy

To some extent, elements of every different prediction falls true at some point in their debut record Return To The Moon. But on the whole, it's something pretty refreshingly unpredictable and unexpected

The record delves away from Berninger bringing an overpowering influence of his day job with The National, something you would have assumed to be the case.

Instead, they've churned out an album surprisingly quirky and laid back. And also a sound that Matt's vocals seem to slip into with ease, sounding extremely comfortable when taking into account this is reasonably new ground for him.

Largely thanks to Knopf's keyboard heavy influence keeping things upbeat for large chunks, the result is something surprisingly fun, and at times bizarre, mainly in the case of 'I'm The Man To Be': a track with a chorus consisting of Matt chiming about how his “dick's in sunlight”. Wouldn't find that in a National track would you?

Berninger's divorce from the melancholy of The National hasn't come without any baggage though, as there is times when the record gets familiarly dark. Probably never more so than in 'Sad Case', when the record hits its most serious.

'No Time To Crank The Sun' also draws upon a darker side. The stripped back nature of Knopf's now acoustic, classical input on keys and the isolated honest vocals as he sings: “If I wasn't so gone completely, this would feel like pain” to give the track a sense of vulnerability.

It's same sort of feeling that comes across in much of the recent National material, yet enough twist to sound new. Definitely a glimpse of the duo at their encapsulating best.

A lot of the focus is no doubt be on the vocals, that's a given. However, the workload has pretty clearly been split down the middle, with Knopf bringing out a side to Matt that's rarely seen with The National, and there's obviously an immediate chemistry between the duo.

There is a feeling that the two are not fully set on a distinctive sound yet, sounding pretty experimental on the whole. It's something expected from a debut album from a pairing coming from very different musical backgrounds.

Even with the noticeable initial finding of their feet though, there's a hell of a lot of promise, and enough solid material already to justify the excitement around the project.

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