Rocks blues roots have been getting some long overdue respect from underground players lately, and for evidence of this, I point you towards none other than “Shaking Off The Evil,” the new single and music video from one Moon Fever. Moon Fever have a rock n’ roll sound that is bred from their edgy collective persona, and while they’re not entirely obsessed with big solos and gargantuan grooves, rebelling against the mainstream appears to be of great value to their brand. Right out of the gate in “Shaking Off The Evil,” they establish themselves as beat-focused bluesmen with a penchant for pulsating rock rhythms recently absent from the airwaves altogether.
SMART URL : https://lnk.to/ShakingOffTheEvil
Though the music video for this track has a rough exterior, it puts the substance of the melodies ahead of visual pomp for what feels like a really immersive experience from top to bottom. “Shaking Off The Evil” touches on revivalist themes in its narrative and doesn’t shy away from getting a little spooky when it needs to, but by balancing out the metallic elements with something a bit more harmony-centric in the sonic scheme of things, the band never devolves into predictable, pseudo-metal territory for even a second.
I really like the subtlety of the guitars in the master mix here, and though it’s strikingly different from what I was initially expecting to find, it’s perhaps what kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish when I first sat down with the song this past weekend. There isn’t anything impeding on the distorted component of the one six-string, while the other remains as crisp and fragile as it begins near the beginning of the song, and all without the aid of a synthetic addition to the music. That’s impressive, especially for a band in the post-millennial era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuFMrSk9AJ8
The vocal gets a lot more volume than it actually needs, but I can definitely understand why. In more ways than one, our singer is holding together all of the jagged edges in the instrumentation with his defined harmony, and even at its most discordant, “Shaking Off The Evil” is never so abrasive that it loses a certain pop appeal required to fit in on the FM dial in 2020. Every player is contributing to the finished product, and that’s why this song feels so heavy and weight-powered no matter what angle we analyze it from.
Moon Fever are brand new faces for most of us, but their future is looking as bright as the morning sun in “Shaking Off The Evil.” Lyrically spellbinding and sporting the sort of brawniness that I haven’t been able to get ahold of in most of the new rock music coming out this year, this single and its companion video are smoldering examples of what a talented group of players can accomplish when everything is clicking into place inside of the studio, and if it’s just a sneak preview of what this band is going to be doing on a regular basis, it won’t be the only hit they have under their belt when all is said and done.
Jodi Marxbury