Review Summary: Hayden Thorpe is a very unique lyricist with an individual voice and style. The production here aptly expresses the themes presented but more diverse song-structures would have helped me retain my attention as the songs can be often predictable.
Moondust for my Diamond is the sophomore album from Kendal singer-songwriter Hayden Thorpe. It follows his 2019 debut Diviner with an expanded production palette and themes of universal truths and entelechy rendered in almost reverent appreciation. On this album, there’s very much this sense of decided purpose, an almost religious appreciation of the secular motors of human life. It’s played against a backdrop of synth, layered texturally over pianos, guitars and saxophones.
It seems fitting that Thorpe would revisit the works of Aristotle after smacking him so comically on Wild Beasts’ ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’ - a flippant satire of masculinity released in 2008. The Greek philosopher believed that everything happened for a reason; that events are a course in reflection, not to be changed, but to be learned from. The same philosophy is demonstrated on Moondust’s… first single ‘The Universe is Always Right’.
“The universe is always right. Surrender any mind to the cosmic arrow…
If it be so, then it be right. Flesh is Golden. It’s finite.”
This all plays its part in the grander narrative of the album’s belief that invention of the living both material and metaphysical have a specific and true purpose. However, these inventions are mutable as he stresses on ‘No Such Thing’.
“No such thing as true darkness
Within this skin, I am boundless”
It is a shame that these themes of an appreciation for the universe’s form and production aren't met with some mutability in song-structure. Perhaps my strongest criticism of the album would be that Hayden is a little too comfortable falling back on familiar structures. With its dream-like production and Thorpe’s ethereal and breathy falsetto, I found it easy for me to fall out of focus during listening. For an album with a nuanced production and intriguing lyricism, it certainly deserves the attention - it just so happens to be polite in seizing it.
That said, I really like the textures here. ‘Parallel Kingdom’ opens with a groaning synth that pans ear to ear before a throbbing bass blinks drunkenly beneath. As the song progresses an electric guitar twitches static pulses down and percussion bounces left to right. It all plays a simple melodic line in a very intriguing way. In other areas, synths are met with an acoustic element such as the accentuating acoustic guitars and saxophones. They’re certainly not the stars of the show but contribute to this singular purpose of lifting the melody and creating this body of work that isn’t texturally singular (a problem that I found occurred on Diviner). Perhaps the most distinct of the bunch is ‘Supersensual’. Relying more on instrumental ambiences, this supernatural love song strips back to its barebones until the final refrain.
Speaking of supernatural love songs, if that sounds like an interesting idea, then it’s a testament to the imagery that appears throughout the album. There are terrific and vivid pictures pronounced in the most unique details, and are perfectly fitting for the duality of synth and acoustics on display in the music - bringing a sense of earth and spirit together.
“808 upon the chakra and we ride it up.” - ‘Supersensual’
“Giant boulders fall through infinity, backyard children on a trampoline.” - ‘Golden Ratio’.
It’s a shame with all these interesting images, Thorpe is set comfortably in his falsetto for the larger portion of the album. A singer with strong range and expressive vocals, there’s only brief tasters of that dynamism on Moondust, missing out on the grizzly sensuality of his Boy King performances or the slapstick grunts of Limbo, Panto. That said, his falsetto is perfectly suited for the songs on Moondust but the compressed and familiar structures of the songs contribute to that feeling of listlessness I had on some listens.
I would like to hear more of his vocal range and varying expressions. Perhaps they could be met with different structures but I still very much enjoy this album. Thorpe remains, as a singer-songwriter, very interesting; writing individualistic lyrics and consulting themes in a way that is unique to his style. Production is nicely balanced with a harmonised relation of synth and acoustic instrumental. Looking forward to hearing more from him.
