Review: Black In Deep Red, 2014 by Moses Sumney

I'm currently taking some medication that makes me really sleepy. I've found the antidote to that. It's Moses Sumney's new EP: Black In Deep Red, 2014. It makes me wanna move.

Source: Ray Lego

'Power?' is a musical hype man. Yes, power to the community. Yes, power to the people. Forget my fatigue, I wanna make a difference. The best music advocates for something. Too much music nowadays has no depth. I want music that paints a picture in my mind or stands for something. Moses Sumney is doing this for me. The EP was written after Sumney attended a protest for Mike Brown's murder in 2014, and it really is such an accurate musical representation of what I can imagine that protest would've been like.

My favourite thing about the next song, 'Call-to-Arms,' is that it sounds like he improvised a tune while doing some mundane task and then turned it into a whole track. And it's an awesome one. That's talent. I love the energy in the song, provided by the claps and whatever time signature it's in (please somebody tell me the time signature). I can see a mass of people standing together, yelling and clapping in protest. Then I have no idea what's going on for the second half of the song and that's the best part! And can a song be bad if it features a sax solo? No. It cannot be anything less than awesome.

The whole EP builds up to 'Rank and File'. Now Moses finally speaks his mind. The army-like call and response pattern is so effective for this song. "Now I don’t care what I’ve been told/This police state is much cold/Cut from crooked cloth and mold/This police state is much too old." Yes! That's what I call a statement.

Music is a response to the climate it is made in. Zeitgeist if you will. Particularly, jazz and soul music came as a direct result of political movements like the Civil Rights Movement in the US. Things haven't changed. Moses Sumney has taken strong influences from these genres and produced a work of art to which the blackness is almost tangible. You can ignore the lyrics and just appreciate some almost criminally catchy music, or really pay attention and

hear the anger and urgency in his words. The EP reeks Black Lives Matter and is so important today.

Man I can't wait to see him in September.