The brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Pablo Padovani, Moodoïd have a curious take on psych-prog.
Capturing the freakery of Gong, the pop pounce of Cars-era Gary Numan, and the airier sensibilities of Groove Armada, it’s unsurprising that Padovani has referred to Moodoïd as a “laboratory project” and vehicle for “fun”. Yet for all its oddities and spacey qualities, Le Monde Möö is a very slickly formed oeuvre. Padovani may be slightly crackers but he’s also a seasoned musician – having served as live guitarist with dream-psych group Melody’s Echo Chamber, and evidently drawn from producer Kevin ‘Tame Impala’ Parker. Different tracks provide mental but neat pockets of progressive adventurism. Bouncy electronic jiggery pokery prevails in Bongo Bongo Club; Les Filles Font Que Le Temps Est Jouissif is all cinematic dream-prog, and in something like Yes And You (the sole English-speaking track here) Moodoïd seems as much an exercise in quality pop as it does in weirdo psych. And Heavy Metal Be Bop manages to traverse be-bop bass, what appears to be half the Paranoid riff and funky synth-led swagger, and still work. Which is impressive.
