Elliot Moss

Sometimes I come across an artist that moves me in a way that I find it really difficult to put it into words. Elliot Moss is one of those.

When I stopped writing these reviews a few years ago, life was tapping me on the shoulder and strongly suggesting that I begin shifting my understanding of everything. Actually, it was a little more than a tap on the shoulder. Enough to leave me reeling for a very long time. And time does heal, but not on its own.

In the following days, months and now years, often the adversity has felt like I’m walking blind. Not really knowing which direction was up…which in essence sounds a lot like drowning. Trying to find any sort of clarity felt like navigating the clean up of a burst beanbag. You just can’t manage it. They never come off your clothes because of the static and trying to brush them all up feels like the most futile exercise ever. And ironically, you’ll still be finding them three years later somewhere in the crease of a couch. Simply putting one foot in front of the other seemed to be enough.

Until its not.

Enter…music.

During traumatic times in our lives, one constant that acts as a vacuum to clean up those beans is music. Because what I’ve learned in the years since is that healing only comes with surrender, and music asks nothing from us except to surrender to its ability to help us shift.

So, I’m kind of internally stumbling. Putting on a brave face but knowing that nothing really feels right. This was until I listened to Elliot Moss. Don’t get me wrong, I well and truly knew of his music before my life chucked on the blinkers and then turned into traffic without looking, but there was something about his music that created a perfect storm inside my head. Giving me glimpses of time where I was able to sit in the eye of that storm and feel absolutely peaceful. I couldn’t get enough. Everything else was too emotional…or raw…or something.

I suppose what I’m trying to convey is that I find a real sense of space within the music that he creates. And that was something I was desperately looking for.

For those who haven’t heard of him, I originally came across him after seeing a video clip of a dance routine. The dance was great, but it was the music that made my ears prick up and ask who’s music was playing during the clip. After my usual musical archeological dig, I came across Moss and his first album ‘Highspeeds’ that had just been released. It was one of those albums that changed my tastes. Ahem…thats a big fucking call yo! Not changed away from what I’ve liked in the past, just opened up a new flavour for me. Lucky too because it was the only flavour I wanted for a while there. It was my album of the year for 2016.

You know when someone is creating something new when they have to classify their music and they start to combine genres to somehow grasp where it sits. On Wikipedia, they call it Indietronic. *squints while looking skyward*…I suppose they’re right though. It really is a new version of Indie music but with an electronic base. All very down tempo and easy to listen to. Like I said earlier. It has space.

There is a very big part of me that loves him just as much for his humble, quiet persona than I do for his music. He reminds me of every dorky, uncomfortable kid in high school who spent all his time in the music room but eventually found his way into the comfort of his own skin to create something remarkable. Sometimes I wish I could go back to my days in high school and tell everyone of those kids to forget everybody else and stay the course. I like to think Elliot Moss finds his way into some young kids eardrums and lights their spark enough to see the magic inside of them.

As you can tell, his music [which I am listening to now] always makes me look inward, and I think that’s why it has had so much of an impact on me. I feel as though I am writing more and more about how sadness and melancholy can really shape who we are and how the embracing of this can be a beautiful thing and for a long time, Moss’ music has been the soundtrack to this internal storyline for me. Sure, he’s not everyones cup of Earl Grey, but sometimes I think its the lack of exposure for a counter culture artist that restricts his ability to possibly affect more people.

So, to divert from the embodiment of what his music does to me for a second, there is a real simplicity to the music he creates. ‘Highspeeds’ really is a well thought out album. My son and I would often go back and forth with what our favourite track on the album was at any particular time. The tempo of most of the tracks are slower and more poetic. And even though the more up tempo tracks on the album ‘Big Bad Wolf’, ‘I Can’t Swim’ & ‘Plastic II’ are lighter and more playful, what they really do is compliment the slower ones and stop the album a few steps away from walking into the laundromat for depressed lovers. But even depressed lovers need a catalyst.

For anyone who’s read this far, congratulations and just a small note that track 12 ‘VCR Machine’ is possibly my favourite of all Elliot Moss’ songs. Its what walking in the rain at midnight through the empty streets of the city should sound like. I like that sound.

So I get knocked clean off my feet by ‘High Speeds’, hoping to high hell that he doesn’t fall victim to the notorious sophomore album syndrome. And he releases ‘Boomerang’, an entire EP that picks up where ‘Highspeeds’ left off. Seven new tracks that feel as though each one of them could be my new favourite at any stage. Its the sign of a great album and the relief I felt was palpable. An entire new album [yes, I know it was an EP but if someone releases an album with seven tracks, its just an album with seven tracks. Same diff.] that I got to digest.

‘Boomerang’ felt lighter. More optimistic. Its got catchy tracks that would stick in my head. I would wake up and have them rolling through the last of my semi conscious dreams vapours. Played it to death. Still do.  Playing it now. The more I leave it without a listen, the more I enjoy it when I come back to it.

So my family knows his music inside out. Some of my mates know it really well. But this one is personal. I hold Elliot’s music super close to my chest. Kinda like Jeff Buckley but with less raw emotional power. More refined. More cinematic. I’ve forever got visuals going through my mind when I listen to him.

He recently [like only a month or so ago] released his third studio album called ‘A Change in Diet’. Its a little bit of a new direction which kind of threw me a little, but I’m warming to it.

There are a few tracks that are right in the Elliot Moss corridor. But he’s taken a less heart pulling approach which I will learn to adjust to. But the thread of true Elliot essence is there for sure and it always makes me smile. As I get used to it, it grows more and more into its own wonderful identity, which when it comes down to it, means that all words aside, I think I just love his music.

I still share his music with my son. We’ve discussed the best tracks off the new album and maybe this is what I am enjoying the most, the sharing of which tracks move me and which ones he vibes with…and loving the difference. I will say that there is one track off the new album called ‘Smile in the Rain’. It is literally an acoustic guitar and strings to back the most perfect melody. It reminds me of why I fell in love with him to begin with. Which gives me hope that every album he does will offer something up for me to devour. And there is absolutely nothing in this world like devouring music.

If you don’t do it, or haven’t in a while, find something new to devour. Sometimes it shapes your outlook on life. Sometimes it supports it. Sometimes it open new doors, but you’ll never know if you don’t go looking. There are musicians out there knocking on your door just begging to come in. Admittedly, most of them can just head on out the back door. But every now and then, you’ll invite one of them to stay for dinner and before you know it they’re renting the front room and painting the lounge room a new colour.

…and you can’t remember what life was like without them.

M /