For many years, Moon Duo plowed a pretty narrow path, albeit doing it very well, merging the crucial components of two of the most aerodynamic and adrenalized bands ever—Suicide and Hawkwind. But the Portland group—Sanae Yamada (synths, vocals) and Ripley Johnson (guitar, vocals)—decided to explore other styles, and that wise decision has paid off on their new album, Stars Are the Light. It's the most diverse full-length of Moon Duo's 10-year career, veering from starry-eyed ballads to robotic creepers to hypnotic dance tracks to blissed-out zoners to crunchy cyber-disco to the woozy psychedelia of Spacemen 3 circa The Perfect Prescription (that band's Pete Kember mixed Stars). Always great to see a group seven albums deep into their tenure shake up their formula and succeed so spectacularly.

"Eternal Shore" is a brilliant anomaly in the Moon Duo catalog, skittering along in 5/4 time. (In my next DJ gig, I want to segue it into Jethro Tull's "Living in the Past.") Yamada and Johnson work up an urgent momentum, prodded along by a monomaniacal bass line while radiant synth whorls and crystalline guitar arabesques filigree the insistent rhythm. Yamada's icy intonations perfectly glaze this beautiful lunar exploration.

You can catch Moon Duo performing tonight at Neumos with somesurprises.