Uitgebracht
February 2009
- It's hard to know what to make of Damian Lazarus' "Moment," to be honest. The track begins by shamelessly ripping off Spiritualized on the piano, then features Lazarus singing (!?!) and an extended horn section somberly playing a repeated theme, which leads into a four-four kick drum that gives room for twin Swedish sisters to sing the same lyrics that Lazarus began the whole thing with. Oh. And they duet with what sounds like a stoned why-are-the-vocals-pitched-down-so-low voice that may or may not be Lazarus yet again. WTF seems like an understatement, but I'll say it anyway: W. T. F.
Listening to Lazarus' podcast over the past few months, you can get a feel for his wide-ranging tastes as an artist. He is, after all, a guy who put 30 Rock's Tracy Jordan up against Norwegian avant pop and a Connie Francis song resuscitated recently in a Wong Kar Wai flick in his latest LazPod. Which is to say: Expect the unexpected. But, as crazy as it sounds, "Moment" makes a whole lot of sense—once you've heard it enough to get over the initial shock of each element. And Lazarus fits these unlikely puzzle pieces together expertly—as though Miriam Eriksson Berhan and Johanna Eriksson Berhan were simply waiting for someone to throw a hefty bassline underneath their voices. It'll be interesting to see whether the experiments will continue—and, if so, whether they'll work as well—on his upcoming full-length for Get Physical. But on the basis of "Moment," consider me intrigued.