The Big Moon - Love In The 4th Dimension (Album Review)
Wednesday, 19 April 2017
Written by Jennifer Geddes
Juliette Jackson always wanted to be in a gang. So, while working as a waitress in London, she eventually gave up on finding a band to join and decided to form her own. Putting the message out among friends she eventually met Soph Nathan, Celia Archer and Fern Ford, who form the rest of the Big Moon. The collective energy that these four produced on stage made people take notice early on and ‘Love in the 4th Dimension’, their first full length, doubles down on it.
Sucker, the band’s 2015 debut single, gets a new recording here. It’s a classic, catchy indie-rock track with quieter verses and a big clashing chorus, but like most of ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’, it’s not immediately recognisable lyrically as a love song.
That’s partly because Jackson’s writing is full of witty one-liners. “When you got me roses I just couldn't bear to see them,” she sings on Pull The Other One. “I had to hide them behind the settee.” She later adds: “And will you stay the night? I'd like to let you stay the day but my schedule's very tight.” On Cupid she mocks: “Yeah, baby, take my wallet, my round. See my johnny artfully tucked out.”
At the same time, though, there is a strength behind Jackson’s voice. Formidable is another love song with a slow build, where she sings: “Yeah nothing is gonna take me down. Give me everything you got. Let your heart beat loud. Yeah, nothing could turn me round.” Her lyrics are often opaque, focusing more on a feeling than sharing a story, but what does come across is that dizzyingly excitable sensation of falling in love.
As Sucker comes to an end, it dissolves into a raucous mess of wolf howls and dog growls, where guitarist Soph, yells “I’m not shy anymore”. That replaces a call of “I’m too shy” on the first release and serves as a great marker as to how the group have grown and developed over the past two and half years.
Bonding during sleepovers, watching Spice World and drinking beers, the band’s kitsch and irreverent attitude seeps onto the album. They kick shoeboxes, slap their thighs, play a triangle inside a pillowcase, bring out megaphones and sing along a lot. It’s their polished instrumentation, though, that allows them this freedom to have fun. The record throws heavy guitar riffs and smashing cymbals at you without losing any bouncy pop melodies in the chaos.
If you’ve been following the band for a while then you’ll already be familiar with most of the songs here, but new tracks like Bonfire, Pull The Other One and The End hold up well against the singles and provide something fresh to explore. On the whole, ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’ is full of well-crafted indie-rock but it’s the women themselves that you really fall for. Their energy, strength and playfulness is contagious and shows how important getting the right combination of band members can be.
The Big Moon Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu April 20 2017 - BRIGHTON Haunt
Fri April 21 2017 - CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach
Sun April 23 2017 - EDINBURGH Electric Circus
Tue April 25 2017 - BELFAST Oh Yeah music Centre
Wed April 26 2017 - DUBLIN Academy 2
Fri April 28 2017 - MANCHESTER Deaf Institute
Tue May 02 2017 - LONDON Village Underground
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