A Shadow of Eclipse and Other Phases of the Moon begins with an instrumental in
Jim Rao's trademark style, with keyboard sound effects and reverberating major seventh chords strummed on an electric guitar. "First Day of Spring" is built upon what sounds like a sampled drum pattern, although most of the other tracks make use of electronic drums, occasionally treated (as with distortion on "Seeds and Stones"). "Osaka Morning Sunshine" dispenses with the guitar altogether, confining itself to Casio beats and simple keyboard chords, while "Someday Never Happens" has electronic handclaps that contrast humorously with the wimpiness of the song. After the step forward of
Dream Window,
A Shadow of Eclipse is a return to formula to the point of sounding like a belated release of older recordings. While the album has an appealing homemade quality, it doesn't stand out as a particularly strong effort in the context of
Orange Cake Mix's prolific output, and seems retrograde from the standpoint of
Rao's artistic evolution.