Growing up in Baltimore, but now based in the South Bay area of LA, singer songwriter Tex Moonlight fuses together Americana and Electronica, creating a sound he’s dubbed, “Americonica”. His latest single, ‘Roll You Up’, is the lead track on his debut album, ‘Moonshot’, which he released on November 15 last year.
Tex Moonlight takes tech sounds and marries them to traditional instrumentals and song structure; his sound appears to be a world away in concept from the punk/hardcore scene of his Baltimore youth, but it was actually there that he first started experimenting with the combo of roots and modern production, coming up with a blend of Neo-Folk and post-modern Blues.
Speaking of his music, Tex said,
“Nothing turns me on quite like getting a whacked-out break-beat looped under a pedal steel.”
‘Moonshot’ comes after years serving as front man for bands between NYC and DC, and now he feels comfortable enough to share his own material. Working with producer and engineer Dave Nachodsky, known for his work with Bonnie Raitt, he began work on ‘Moonshot’, and its raw and experimental soundscapes, paired with inward-focused lyrics, often focused on his own mortality, by way of memories of those who’ve passed.
“Nostalgia can linger like ghosts in your psyche,” Tex asserts. “But I wouldn’t consider these reflections morbid…these days I’m swimming in gratitude.”
‘Roll You Up’ is a love song, deeply personal, and often humorous, with lyrics such as “I’m going to roll you up and smoke you / and blow you through the breeze” – Mr Moonlight has clearly had a lot of fun writing this! Sonically, it’s majorly acoustic but with a secondary layer of electronica. Vocally we’re reminded of Tom Petty, while there’s a bit of a glam rock element sewn up in the instrumentation – the start calls to our minds the early work of David Bowie. ‘Roll You Up’ is one of those sorts of songs that’s at the same time simple yet complex; an enigma wrapped up in a mystery, covered in a deep layer of intricacy.
You can find out more about Tex Moonlight online on his official website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
https://soundcloud.com/texmoonlight/roll-you-up
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