Making comparisons between Moon Duo and Wooden Shjips is practically inevitable considering the former is a side project of the latter. The distinction between the two was a very fine one with 2010's Escape - with Mazes the dividing line has become more defined. The gyrating riffing aesthetic is present on both, but the Duo seem to lift the not unpleasant fug of the Shjips and present something much lighter, more airy and generally less bong fuelled.
Allowing Moon Duo to embrace a pop sensibility, Sanae Yamada's keyboards are central to this distinction. Of course this is a swirling fractalised tie-dyed psychedelic garage awareness of pop's power, not the auto-tuned apocalypse of current chart pop, but the hook is as ingenious as anything on major play-lists. `Mazes', for example, is a sunshine bounce of a tune that has you humming within seconds and `When You Cut' catches you with its uncomplicated keyboard line before the fuzzed guitar begins to rise.
Mazes is a another brew of hallucinogenic goodness from Moon Duo.