It can be argued that a great deal of rock music is influenced by other genres. Jazz, funk, folk, hip-hop, and electronica have all led rock bands to attempt to chart new territory, often with mixed results. Baton Rouge band Moon Honey joins in on the genre-welding by incorporating a heavy classical influence on their debut full-length Hand-Painted Dream Photographs. The album features songs that reject traditional rock structures and opt for a more movement-based approach. The movements themselves vary wildly between rock, progressive indie, middle-eastern, and hints of funk, producing an erratic and tense listening experience in the vein of modern progressive acts such as the Mars Volta.

There are moments when the changes and recurring motifs make Hand-Painted Dream Photographs thrilling. “Lady Lazarus” features a driving eastern rhythmic undercurrent as a foundation for the movements and guitarist Andrew Martin’s impressive performance. “The Two Fridas” shows Moon Honey at its most melodic, with Martin’s guitar and front woman Jessica Ramsey’s vocals interweaving over a cinematic backdrop provided by drummer Jermaine Butler and bassist/keyboardist Jeffrey Livingston. However, at times the melodies are not strong enough to hold the disparate elements together, and Ramsey’s vocals are unorthodox and take some getting used to, often resembling Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker (which can or cannot be a good thing, depending on one’s taste). Although it is far from perfect, Hand-Painted Dream Photographs is an ambitious and exciting effort.