Noel Gallagher Charting Unfamiliar Territory

Who Built The Moon? is a new, unexpected direction for Noel Gallagher’s third solo record. After first listen the album doesn’t exactly stick, whereas with his brother Liam’s album As You Were hits you almost instantly. After a few listens, grasping the album’s conceptual idea becomes more understandable. Although he’s approached creating this album differently, it feels more of a homage to his favourite artists growing up. Psychedelia and glam rock runs ramped throughout the album more than anticipated.

According to Noel himself, this album is just him in “more colourful clothes.” It’s a bright, spacey, vivacious experience from start to finish. Beginning with the very opening track “Fort Knox” sets the tone for the album as different as it may seem. Jumping into the upbeat, first single “Holy Mountain” that’s decorated with tin whistles that don’t feel as out of place as they should be on a NGHFB’s record. That’s thanks to David Holmes, the producer Gallagher welcomed with open arms for a new musical direction.

Instead of coming to the studio with endless amounts of material, Holmes challenged that Gallagher bring nothing but his guitar, effects pedals and an open mind. 

Easily live favourites “Keep On Reaching” and “Black & White Sunshine” drive home this happier sound that the entire record exudes through every pore. The interludes “Wednesday Part 1” and “Wednesday Part 2” break up the album and give it the rest needed after such electric songs. Both pieces of musically are beautifully put together that one wonders what Noel could’ve done with the addition of lyrics.

After hearing the live version of “She Taught Me How To Fly,” it sounds edgier and doesn’t give the studio version enough credit. It’s one of the more experimental sounding songs on the record. Where “Be Careful What You Wish For” is good in some aspects, it’s just a slightly mellowed out version of “Come Together” by the Beatles. “If Love Is The Law” is a chugging, harmonica driven track with clear influence taken from Phil Spector’s “wall of sound.” The immense track “The Man Who Built The Moon” could fit seamlessly in a James Bond soundtrack with it’s epically sounding chorus.

Next to “The Man Who Built The Moon” the bonus track “Dead In The Water” stands lyrically with some of the best Noel has ever written dating back to (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. The intimate song was recorded at RTÉ 2FM Studios in Dublin during a radio session.

“I’d written that song in under two hours. I hadn’t played it to anyone. So I was sat with headphones on and the sound in the room was so amazing that while the engineer was messing around with this mic, I just started singing it for myself. I forgot all about it, fast forward the album’s finished, the inevitable question: have you got any bonus material? I said, ‘We didn’t record any B-side material.’ Then someone in my office said ‘what about that song you did that day in Dublin? The one about the water?’ He got in touch and they said ‘Oh yeah, we recorded it.’ My jaw hit the floor - what’s special is that I’m singing it for myself. I listened to it and thought, ‘It has to go on the album because I want to play it live,’” Gallagher told Radio X. Impressively the song wasn’t even properly re-recorded for the album.

The one downfall of this album is that the production style used tends to sound muffled. While there is moments Gallagher’s vocals shine, on multiple occasions they’re hard to understand. Regardless, as a whole Who Built The Moon? is a joyful and intense journey from start to finish that provides a different view into Gallagher’s songwriting.