- Written on the sleeve of Lance Neptune's debut, Animal Eclipse, is a child-like description of its contents. It promises to float the listener "far away from reality," and there are at least two songs here that make good on the claim. The title track's weightless melody glistens like crystal in sunlight; "White Eclipse," the EP's other ambient piece, is a luxurious bath of glassy synths and chattering fauna.
The rest of Animal Eclipse takes us somewhere we've been before. Lance Neptune's fondness for crystalline chords and swung UK beats sounds inescapably like Lone—that the music arrives on Matt Cutler's Magicwire label barely makes the similarities more explicit. But it's hard to deny that Animal Eclipse has its moments. "Janus" and "Golden Inferno" are fun and pleasantly iridescent, and when Neptune dims the dayglo synths—as he does on "N4"'s stoned singalong and the pillowy shuffle of "Pyxis"—he sounds less like an imitation.
TracklistA1 Animal Eclipse
A2 Janus
A3 Golden Inferno
B1 N4
B2 Pyxis
B3 White Eclipse