Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds ‘Who Built The Moon?’

Words by Russell Carstens

I’m always intrigued when a fairly-straightforward artist dares to take a different approach. Noteworthy examples: McCartney II, the entire Gorillaz project, and when the Beastie Boys returned to playing live instruments on Check Your Head after much success as rappers. Noel Gallagher’s Who Built The Moon? is in the same spirit as these adventurous musical endeavors.

Producer David Holmes encouraged Gallagher to be more freewheeling, and it paid off. “Fort Knox” is the result of Gallagher pretending to produce a track for Kanye West, “Holy Mountain” is a strutting sixties glam anthem, and “Interlude” is a reflective meditation. There are sprinkles of other surprises as well: spoken word, ambient techno-esque beats, and the occasional sample. As a whole, the album has a soaring, uplifting quality — appropriate for high-flying birds indeed.