Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that
Neptune sounds so much more polished and cohesive than
the Duke Spirit's first album,
Cuts Across the Land. After all, their debut was culled from years' worth of singles and EPs, while this album was recorded almost three years after
Cuts Across the Land was ready for release. At any rate, it's a pleasant surprise: on
Neptune,
the Duke Spirit don't just focus their music, they expand on it, too. For the album's sessions, the band reunited with producer
Chris Goss, who they worked with on "Mayday," their song for
UNKLE's 2007 album,
War Stories, and it's clear from the hymn-like opening track, "I Do Believe," that
Neptune boasts more studiocraft than anything
the Duke Spirit did before. Fans of the band's scuzzy, experimental side will miss the rawness that
Cuts Across the Land had in spades, but chances are they won't miss it for long, because
Neptune's songs are just as compelling as they are polished. "Send a Little Love Token" and "Into the Fold" show off the band's formidable rock, even if they're not as serrated as they would've been had they appeared on
Cuts Across the Land, while "The Step and the Walk" shows how the album's polish sets off
Liela Moss' tough but graceful singing. More than ever, her richly raspy vocals are the band's focal point: she's crisply self-assured even on the bluest songs, such as the lunging ballad "Dog Roses," and unsinkable on "This Ship Was Built to Last," a churning blues-rocker that sways to and fro between surging brass and slide guitar like a boat caught in a storm. The other bandmembers stretch to match
Moss' newfound versatility, often with striking and unexpected results. The group's
Sonic Youth fetish resurfaces with "You Really Wake Up the Love in Me," which ignites the sexy buzz of "Sugar Kane" with more hooks and passion as
Moss wails "You always stir up the sea." Then they follow that song with the album's biggest surprise, "My Sunken Treasure," sweetly soulful pop with bouncy pianos straight out of Motown. For every tempest like "Lassoo" or "Neptune's Call," there's an unabashedly pretty moment like the almost serene "Wooden Heart" or "Sovereign," either of which would have been completely out of place on
Cuts Across the Land -- but it's the depth, power, and flair of moves like these that make
Neptune the real introduction to
the Duke Spirit.