Rocket Juice and the Moon is the eponymous debut from the latest in the long line of Damon Albarn’s side-projects. Initially formed in 2008, the project, consisting of core members Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz, etc.), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti), had been set aside whilst its various members got on with their day jobs. This lack of attention is perhaps the reason why Rocket Juice and the Moon sounds a bit undercooked.
The album draws on the African influences familiar to Allen’s past ventures and which featured on Albarn’s latest Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, the driving force behind its songs coming in the form of afrobeat, funk baselines. The main problem with the album is that it feels like a side-project; one in which nobody really takes control. Albarn only sings on two of the twenty tracks comprising Rocket Juice and the Moon and, as such, the album lacks a definitive voice. There are many solid guest performances from the likes of Erykah Badu, Fatoumata Diawara and M.anifest but the result is a record which sounds more like a drop-in session for whoever may have been hanging around at the time.
The high points consist of songs like ‘High Shooter’, ‘Lolo’ and ‘Poison’ where melody and lyrical drive take over from the otherwise meandering instrumentation but these instances are too few and far between to give the album a consistent energy. This is an album perhaps best enjoyed in the live arena where the relaxed party atmosphere that fails to excite on record will be displayed to its best advantage. Sadly, for whatever reason, this hasn’t been achieved with the recorded version and what might have been a really interesting project has ended up sounding more like the Gorillaz tracks which didn’t quite come together for Plastic Beach.
TWO STARS
