Having released two albums over the last few years, ‘Solar Hangover’ and ‘Outerworlds’, Ōtautahi indie-rock band Lunar Intruder continue their streak of delightful tunes under planetary project names with new EP ‘Moonlight’.

Off To Nowhere, the opening track, launches the sonics straight out to space with an infections guitar riff from Mattew Earle. Ricki Allan brings things ever so slightly back to earth with an upbeat drum pattern, together creating a solid foundation for Cameron Buyers to tell a story of yearning and feeling lost.

Things are kept simple, without many additional production elements other than a delicious amount of long reverb. This leaves the band’s live sound in the spotlight, and it is easy to imagine these five songs translating well to live performance.

Matthew Genet grooves away on the bass in All The Time (Golden Side). As the second to last tune on the album, it feels like the energy is nearing a peak. Surprisingly the magnitude is brought down for the final track, Light The Way, rather than finishing on an intense note, the album instead finishes with a soulful delicacy in Buyers’ vocals and melodic lead guitar lines. Like a happy ending to a bedtime story, the journey that unfolds within this album disperses into bird sounds and comes to a calm close.

Lunar Intruder would likely be on a playlist alongside Mako Road, Soaked Oats and Ocean Ally, something with a title like ‘Summer Sunshine Tunes’ that is perfect for listening to while laying in the shade. Moving away from their previous surf-rock focus, ‘Moonlight’ finds them taking a refreshing dip into a new sound, more psychedelic and spacious than ever before.