Moon Walker debuted in May of this year, recording their first project in a spare room. Since then, the duo’s eclectic and inspired brand of rock and roll has pushed them further and further down the path of success. Drawing inspiration from Bowie and Byrne to Plant and Springsteen, they combine the weird with the traditional, the modern with the historic, all for a melting pot of rock & roll that is as much a love letter to the genre as it is a reimagination. There’s a bit of funk, a bit of punk rock, and a lot of hard rock. Lyrically, the duo address everything from sensationalism to religion to social responsibilities.
Opening with ‘Devil’, the track first signifies a slightly groovy and funky piece. But there’s a punchiness and aggression that works so strangely well with the bass and guitar rhythm that you couldn’t possibly think of. The hook, littered with abrasive utterings of ‘Devil’ is just filled with excitement. The TV Made Me Do it builds on the notion of media sensationalism and how they corrupt listeners. It’s a grim and apocalyptic piece, one that laments the awful effect that propaganda content could have on otherwise inoffensive and normal people. Directly, it discusses the capital insurrection and the demise of the Trump presidency. Indoctrination never sounded so good.
Singer Harry Springer says, “Making this record has been my distraction and my salvation through the craziness of the past year. It feels so strange, but beyond exciting, to be setting it free into the world. I hope that anyone who listens gets at least 1/1,000,000th as much enjoyment out of it as I have.” It’s not just fun, but its also incredibly introspective and thought provoking.
A lot of ‘Truth to Power’ is focused on recent events, the alt-right movement, the Trump presidency, right wing propaganda, and religious control. As much as all that might pique your interest, its the sheer dexterity in instrumentation that makes Moon Walker worth your time. The bass work across this project is nigh unparalleled by contemporaries, it’s so irresistibly injected with rhythm and funk that steers every song with effortless ease. It might be a dystopian image that the album paints, steeped in an undeniable reality of course, but it definitely lets you rock out to the fire burning around us all. Rock & Roll at its best.