That's No Moon - Hyperion (2014) Lossless

If there was any doubt in That’s No Moon, it’s about to go away – far, far away. The Champaign-Urbana dance-pop band’s sophomore release, Hyperion – a concept album on space exploration to save the human race – capitalizes on a well-thought out songwriting process and delivers an album heavy in both force and pace, but layered with heart-grasping vocal melodies from frontman Ben Wilson.

Standout tracks like the fast-paced “Lunacity” and the dance-inciting “Jet Set” show off a matured writing style that surpass the band’s previous efforts on its self-titled debut, while “Kathryn” (previously released via Heirship Records’ Crashing the Heirship compilation) shoots synths out at a speed that both sound and feel like you’ve become an F-Zero pilot in just under the three minutes the song whips by. The quality of the band’s second album is enough to give That’s No Moon an early lock on one of the best CU releases of the year, but there’s more to the concept album than just its addictive sound.

Hyperion rejuvenates a genre infamously stereotyped and tossed under the umbrella with Warped Tour and bands with high-pitched frontmen. But on That’s No Moon’s second album, Wilson and Co. take a drive towards pop-punk and then wildly divert at the last minute. The album’s detailed production already excuses the band for the nearly three-year gap between its first and second albums, but Wilson’s 10-song spanned storytelling through both lyrical concepts and auditory imagery prove the album was worth every second to make.