You shouldn’t judge an album by its cover, but the image adorning Moon Palace’s self-titled debut LP — an empty canyon at dusk, lit only by stars — is pretty indicative of the contents therein. The relatively new Seattle band, fronted by twin sisters Cat and Carrie Biell, has made a record that was, per their Bandcamp page, “based on Cat’s desert dreams,” and it’s a lovely ode to the enormity and complexity of Mother Nature. If it’s possible for an album to have a setting, this one takes place mostly in arid, rocky regions, with the occasional excursion to a verdant forest, and yet the Biells’ sound is more lush than the badlands have ever been. It’s earthy and otherworldly in equal measure.
— Nathan Weinbender