Side projects are often undertaken as a means of experimenting with a new sound, but that's not the case for Eric "Ripley" Johnson, guitarist with San Franciscan psych-rockers Wooden Shjips. Three albums into Moon Duo, the band formed in 2009 with Sanae Yamada (and now drummer John Jeffrey), Johnson is still fine-tuning the more hypnotic end of the psychedelic spectrum. The song are undeniably engaging, from the stoner-rock of Free the Skull to the handclaps-and- jangles combo of Slow Down Low and the meditative, seven-minute- long Ice. Still, Johnson's gnarly guitar solos aside, they have few distinguishing characteristics, making this an album to nod enthusiastically alongside but not particularly one to return for repeated listens. moonduo.org