Art-pop musician Moses Sumney has a new EP heading our way, titled Black in the Deep Red, 2014, and if the leading track off this album is any indicator of the rest of his new tunes, it’s bound to be excitable.
The track is titled “Rank and File,” and can be heard below.
Sumney first burst onto the scene last year with his first LP, Aromanticism, garnishing critical acclaim from some of the most popular sources. Although his dreamy, ambient tone is still present in this new song, his voice and lyrics are filled with a new kind of frustration and passion.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this song is its source: a protest Sumney attended in 2014.
According to an interview obtained by diymag.com, Sumney says he was there when, “a grand jury decided not to charge the offending officer in the Mike Brown murder,” and “took to the mountains soon after that and wrote these songs, wondering if power was a transferable device that could change hands through the vocalizing of unrest.” Waves of protests have occurred in the 4 years since Mike Brown’s was killed, but Sumney wants people to keep a vision.
The song is layered with comparisons, such as protestors who are toys or pawns, being wound up or gaining new batteries to march when injustice occurs. However, the bestial police state can simply wait out this anger and force compliance. It’s a call against civility and the status quo.
This may be one of the few true protest songs to be seen since Trump’s election.
The EP is scheduled to release via Jagjaguwar Records this month and should feature two other tracks yet to be heard, “Power?” and, “Call-to-Arms.”
