Album Review: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Who Built the Moon?
2 min read
Who Built the Moon? is the third album by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. The English alternative rock band was formed in 2010 by Noel Gallagher, former Oasis’s lead guitarist and songwriter.
Fort Knox, the album’s opener, has been inspired by Power (Kanye West). The simple lyrics are nearly inaudible, hidden among siren and alarm like sounds. Holy Mountain is the first single form the record. It’s a catchy song, with a happy and joyful sound, characterised by a whistle tune (from Chewing Gum Kid, The Ice Cream). Keep On Reaching, with its funky rhythm, trumpets and female chorus, sounds like a Motown song. Although at first It’s a Beautiful World may seem a song which celebrates the world, it’s more a sarcastic reflection about it. Surprisingly, in this song there is an entire section in French, sung by Charlotte Marionneau.The harmonica played by Johnny Marr characterises The Love Is The Law, by adding more depth to the song.
In the album there are two instrumental songs, Interlude (Wednesday Part 1) and End Credits (Wednesday Part 2), which, at first, were created as an one track only. To conclude the album, there is an acoustic bonus track called Dead in The Water. The song, which was recorded live in RTÉ’s studios, sounds like an intimate and personal experience and it stands out from the rest of the album.
Who Built the Moon? is certainly an interesting record, whose sounds are clearly inspired by multiple relevant artists as Kanye West, Marvin Gaye and The Beatles, just to name few. Throughout the entire album, there are moments when Noel’s voice fights with the music to be heard, but just in few occasions it becomes difficult to follow the lyrics.
