Luna: Rendezvous : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

For a while it looked like Luna might become a sort of serene counterpart to Sonic Youth: super-mellow New York aesthetes turning out shimmering guitar pop in perpetuity. But after twelve years and a handful of terrifically tuneful albums, Rendezvous is their last go-round. It's a fitting, if slightly sleepy, send-off. Though Luna have always trafficked in meticulously arranged smoothness, there's less Velvets-y guitar and more open space on Rendezvous than ever before. Instead of marveling at the quiet seduction of the tiny hours, Dean Wareham warbles his way through vaguely resigned, delicately pretty reveries such as "Rainbow Babe" and "Broken Chair." The easy melodies that anchor these songs suggest Luna could have done this forever, but give them props for knowing when to say when.