Mesa Luna's CRUX EP has a melancholy undercurrent

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      Mesa Luna
      CRUX EP (nbd)

      Mesa Luna’s CRUX EP is the kind of collection that will sound great at a dinner party or in a cocktail lounge, since its five electro-pop tunes are filled with low-key dance grooves and enveloping synth swirls that invite casual background enjoyment. Dig deeper within these songs, however, and you’ll find an undercurrent of affecting lyrical melancholia that rewards attentive listening from this Vancouver two-piece consisting of Justice McLellan and Alex Cooper.

      This is particularly true of “Church Garden”. This standout cut features thwacking drum-machine beats and dreamily purring synths, but the lyrics shine a bravely unflattering light on drunkenness and heartbreak, and describe spewing chunks in a bush while imagining a lover in another’s arms. “Ruins” is a bummed-out lament about a failed relationship, downcast ruminating about “constant combat” giving way to a violent guitar freakout with jagged-glass distortion.

      Elsewhere on this cassette EP, “Lost on Me” is a lullaby-like ballad about losing touch with family, and closer “Don’t Let Go” is an uneasy dance track about living in an “ordinary hell”. The duo even manages to find pathos in inanimate objects: “Sputnik” invokes its titular satellite with an interstellar whoosh of spacy tones, rhythmic clanks, and descriptions of alienation.

      CRUX EP is just Mesa Luna’s second-ever commercial release, following a 7-inch single in early 2014. If these guys can keep pouring this much emotion into their sweet-sounding pop songs, they’ll be well worth keeping an eye on.

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