The title of Cave's new EP seems like a playful jab at themselves, but it holds a small grain of truth: Pure Moods shows the band trying to diversify by slowing the hell down for a few minutes. The music of Can loomed large over Cave's previous releases, marrying the focus and drive of krautrock to muscular, raw noise rock. Now that they've slowed down, it turns their needle towards another Can-inspired act, Stereolab-- especially on opener "Hot Bricks". The track's clean guitar plucking and head-bobbing rhythm puts them in a mellower and slightly more static zone; it sounds like Cave are returning to the well-- at least at first.
But while none of the tracks points toward a new direction on its own, they do have an arc when listened from end to end, giving the EP a self-contained feel rather than just a hodgepodge of new tracks. "Teenager" gets closer to the band's comfort zone, adding urgency and grit to familiar rhythms while also holding something back: The echoing guitar riff reaches higher and the group vocals go from chanting to wailing, but the climax feels perpetually around the next corner; it's insistent and cathartic without playing at full throttle. The EP's tension reaches its peak on closing track "Brigitte's Trip (White Light/White Jazz)", which again nods to Stereolab in its stilted beginning rhythms and glassy Moog tones, though it's not long before they reach a full-band crescendo and stretch out for a solid five minutes of languid jamming, still trying to find a common branch between minimalism and largess.
The buildups and freakouts on "Brigitte's Trip (White Light/White Jazz)" may be predictable by the EP's end, but every time someone leans on the wah-wah pedal or holds down a shimmering keyboard chord, it always feels natural and earned, as if those elements were lurking unnoticed in the background the whole time. If anything justifies the final song's 13-minute runtime, it's the band's easy mastery of tension and release, as well as the steady pulse they maintain even through their most indulgent moments*. Pure Moods* doesn't quite tap into something more distinctive for the band, but they remain proud and inventive purveyors of the kraut- and psych-rock tradition. It's an encouraging creative left turn that won't let any of their listeners down.
