"I've still got you under my skin," sings Moon Motel's J. Sales throughout Live For No One's closing track, "Blue Blood." That's a bit of an understatement. The follow-up to 2013's The Lonely Romantic, Live For No One deals with the aftermath of the devastation "the Romantic" felt after losing the love of his life.
In an interview with Speak Into My Good Eye that preceded the EP's release, Howell's Sales describes Live For No One as a record of the thoughts that flow through the Romantic's head as he makes his way in the world, now alone. I've written before of the running, internal dialogue that I believe we've all got going on in one form or another. Here, Sales shares with us the Romantic's own, very personal, internal dialogue.
"All I see is the dream of you next to me," sings Sales on opening track "The Clock & The Torch," setting the tone for the rest of the record. The narrator alternates between pining for the way he'd always imagined things could be ("You and me, we would be married and happy" on "Not Long Ago") and telling himself that he can move on ("You won't string me up again" on "Whose Puppet?"). He ultimately acknowledges, though, on "Blue Blood" that -- either way -- his thoughts are still being driven by his loss.
Recorded live, in nearly real time, at Toms River's Ugly Door Studio, Live For No One possesses the immediacy of a live set. The record opens and closes with some of the ambient noise captured during the session. Sales's voice, almost a strained whisper here, is paired with acoustic guitar; and the overall effect is somewhat dreamlike and enhances the feeling that we're being let in on someone's innermost thoughts.
On Live For No One, Moon Motel's the Romantic is still in that place where we all find ourselves following the initial flood of emotion that accompanies loss. Thoughts about what he had and how he's working to move on consume his quietest moments.
We do move on, though, to a point when we only have fleeting thoughts, tinged with sadness, of the way things might have been. He'll get there, too. Then, one day, he'll come across a record like Live For No One that, for a few minutes anyway, can bring all those feelings back from where he's stashed them.
Live For No One came out on CD in February. You can head over to Moon Motel's Bandcamp page to check out some other releases.
No comments :
Post a Comment