A friend texted me this morning “I can feel my seasonal depression lifting” in response to the gorgeous weather outside. Similarly, as I press “play” on “Seen it Coming” of Bob Moses’ latest outing, I can feel a familiar sense of anticipation bubbling up as a warm season with some semblance of normalcy seems to be emerging in Columbus, OH. It is a 70 degree day, and the city’s population has swelled by a couple hundred thousand for the weekend as athletes and people watchers flood Columbus for the Arnold Classic.
A scant two tracks into the record, my curiosity for seeing this duo live has been piqued. Turns out they are playing my favorite venue in Columbus next month. By the time I’m on track five, that curiosity has has escalated to enjoyment. The house leanings of “Time and Time Again” at times threaten to make the leap into full on trance territory (at least to my ears – that which belong to a guy who is still an EDM novice). My mind goes to a show I attended a few years ago where one lady was front row, her hand in the air, doing a dance of its own traversing an imaginary cloudscape. That’s the feeling this song gives me.
If you want another idea of how this album sounds, I had this playing in the background while I attended to some administrative stuff unrelated to this review. “Broken Belief” kicked in and the brooding synth made me instinctively start swaying in my seat to the beat. I often judge acts by how they prompt me to subconsciously respond, and Bob Moses passes the test. This doesn’t happen on every song; in fact there are a few moments that aren’t very striking to me, but this is subjective and not really a criticism.
While reading up on the act, I came across a livestream they did on top of an abandoned tower outside of LA. It could be argued that this is a visual metaphor for how massive their sound is. Capable of filling up a desolate place. Plus, desolate places are often the most beautiful, and it takes a special kind of artist to activate that without an audience! Tycho and Rufus Del Sol are other artists that are masters of this.
The past few years have felt desolate for many. We are fortunate to have artists capable of meeting us in the doldrums and bringing us back into the light.
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