Touting a stirring art-rock sound that spans from bursting anthems to psychedelic intrigue, We Do Not Fear Ruins is the memorable new album from Austin-based artist Mobley. The sci-fi concept album follows Jacob Creedmoor, an artist and dissident from 1980s New York, who awakens 300 years after being imprisoned in suspended animation to find a radically unfamiliar future.
The year Jacob was frozen — 1981 — had a particular influence, musically, on Mobley. “When I listened to some of the songs in the air during that period, I was stunned by the incredible diversity of popular music,” he says. “You had Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson, but new wave and funk were still happening. Pop and country were doing a bunch of interesting things. R&B was huge, and there were the first rumblings of hip-hop, as well as vestigial traces of disco.” That eclectic musical world is echoed throughout the album’s colorful production.
Opening track “The End” is exemplary of the dynamic production within. Spacey frequencies develop into an elegant array of plucky instrumentation, as flutes drive into a swell of twangy, western-y guitars and wordless vocal power. The ensuing “Only” is similarly momentum-filled, traversing from lyrical ruminations on time to a yearning invigoration set amidst a soulful rock charisma. “Everything I love’s long lost by now,” the vocals lament into a debonair, hooky progression — “…the only one.” “No Exit” continues the album’s strong start, re-integrating that western-y cinematic appeal as lonesome whistles and solemn guitars lead — evolving seamlessly into a punchy “what am I without people?” introspection.
Another highlight arises via “Y’r Ghost,” where tender guitar licks and flourishing piano complement a smooth vocal intoxication. “I can’t see your ghost,” Mobley’s vocals ascend, engaging with a pop/rock cohesion that balances suave guitars and twinkling piano; Mobley consistently delights in crafting earworms, and this is no exception. The rousing, anthemic rock charmer “Now Forever” also envelops, and like “Only” succeeds thematically in its musings on time. As Mobley explains: “Specifically about the paradox of the present. We can only experience time as flowing from past to future, and because of the limits of our cognition, we can only ever experience small sections of that flow (what we call ‘now’).” We Do Not Fear Ruins is a consistently compelling output from Mobley.
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We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
