Stoned Jesus release Songs to Moon on Friday through Season of Mist. Seven songs, and the title answers Songs to Sun, the debut they made sixteen years ago.
Naming a record against your own first one is a claim, and a risky one. Songs to Sun is the album this band are still known for and the one that put a Ukrainian stoner band in front of an international audience, and inviting the comparison means the new songs have to survive it.
The running times suggest they are at least built the same way. "Window in My Room" at eight minutes twenty two and "Jackal" at six forty eight are the kind of long, unhurried pieces that made the first record work, rather than the shorter songs the band moved towards in between.
"Under the Skin" was the advance song. Season of Mist have had them for several albums now, and the band have kept working through four years of a war at home.