It’s hard to say what Poor Moon is trying to do with their debut EP, “Illusion.” As a side project of the Fleet Foxes and Crystal Skulls, the EP ends up being a not-so-original expedition into the same soft vocal harmonies and spacey instrumentation that both bands are already known for.

The band is a collection of musicians, all of whom are already known for their exceptional work in other bands. The foursome, based in Seattle, is comprised of lead singer, songwriter and guitarist, Christian Wargo and the multi-talented Casey Wescott. These two musicians have much in common – both have played in the bands Pedro the Lion, Fleet Foxes and Crystal Skulls. They are joined by brothers Ian and Peter Murray, who have been playing together in the little-known band, The Christmas Cards.

Typically side projects are a way to change and experiment with the sound of an associated band. It is a chance to show a different side and take some risks. However, in this case, Poor Moon ends up sounding too much like Fleet Foxes, which wouldn’t be a bad thing except that there is almost no effort to sound any different. If you think of “Illusion” as a side project, it fails because it does not bring anything original or new to the table. If you think of it as a stand-alone project, it succeeds because it does again what Fleet Foxes has already been doing, and doing well.

The album begins with a monotonous and repetitive title track that essentially features Wargo playing the same uncomplicated guitar line from start to finish and singing a slow and lazy melody accompanied by little else except a few back-up vocal harmonies. The following track, “Anyplace” sounds as ambiguous as the title. The song’s lyrics “anything you know that you know for certain / couldn’t be any less important / for you to know,” continue the disconnected haziness. There’s nothing really horrific about either song, they just aren’t anything you haven’t heard before – they’re average at best.

It’s unfortunate that the album begins with such mediocrity because the last three tracks are infinitely better. It’s as if Poor Moon started getting warmed up with the first two tracks, and then, finally in the groove, they start to hit their stride with “People in Her Mind.” This song pairs a sad story of “the girl that no one could recognize / that no one could identify,” who realizes that “the people in her life / are just people in her mind,” with an unexpectedly cheery, up-beat, muffled percussion and a whimsical counter-melody on the xylophone. It’s a bizarre combination, but it is a breath of fresh air compared to the trite track that came before it.

The two best songs on the album are the last two, “Once Before” and “Widow.” Wargo’s high-pitched voice pulls “Once Before” along, and the lyrics, although not terribly complicated, are relatable and discuss love in an awesomely cynical way: “I’ve been in love before/ Once before / I’ve been in love before / And there ain’t no cure / I curse the day that love walked out my door.” On “Widow,” the vocal harmonies that every Fleet Foxes fan has been waiting the whole EP to hear, finally comes. The four-part harmonies dip and soar, in and out, with each lovely voice standing alone but allowing the others to come forth. The tone is pure and the lack of vibrato in each voice elicits goose bumps. Complementarily, the lyrics tell a chilling story of a woman whose husband is “always in a hurry” and “always had to run” while “chasing after what he might be sorry if he hadn’t done.” In the end, when he eventually comes home, the wife poisons him in order to, oddly, overcome her loneliness and thus becomes a widow.

The last couple of songs on “Illusion” give hope to Poor Moon’s future. This EP, while it has plenty of pitfalls, has enough potential to make someone look forward to the next Poor Moon album (if there happens to be one), and certainly the next Fleet Foxes album.