Deep. Sexy. Vibey. Emotional.
These are some of the adjectives that have long described the music of Bob Moses. Since their debut EP in 2012, the Brooklyn-based duo have been dually consistent and inventive, with their output evoking a particular late-night mood without ever veering into copy-and-paste repetition.
So it goes with the duo’s new album Desire, out today via Domino Records. Made as a continuous mix, the five tracks tell the story of love, loss, longing and fulfillment. Defying the singles-driven dance world, Desire is a true full listening experience, with the mood, concepts and overall quality of the album shining through more effectively when listened to in its entirety.
Here in their own words, the duo’s Jimmy Vallance and Tom Howie break down each song on the album.
“Love We Found”
This song starts off gently and draws you in before kicking into a deep groove. We thought it would be a great way start the record, not only sonically, but also story-wise, as it sets up the internal conflict and sense of longing found within the rest of the record.
“The Blame”
This track originally started as an instrumental we would play in our club sets. We then wrote vocal and guitar parts at a studio we rented while we were on tour. It continues the story and is about coming to terms with accepting responsibility for succumbing to your desires.
“Desire”
We wrote this song with Zhu and it features him on backing vocals. We’d been wanting to make something together for a while, so we booked some time in a studio during a gap in both our schedules. The track came together really quickly, and it ended up being the song we anchored the rest of the album around. The idea that desires, the cycle of replacing wants and needs with more wants and needs, can inspire motivation but also be a burden.
“Hold Me Up”
Our music can be quite melancholic at times, but we try to inject some hope in our lyrics. We want there to be some light at the end of the tunnel. We were inspired by the story of Icarus during the making of this record. The falling man on the artwork and videos is a modern take on the ancient Greek myth. This track is meant to pick you up and be the turnaround from the first three songs.
“Outlier”
Keeping in line with stories of desire in the modern age, this song was inspired by social media’s impact on our mental health. Often, we feel we need to project a superficial version of ourselves because we feel that’s what others want to see. We’ve had a couple friends [who died by] suicide and none of us knew they were troubled, not even their closest family members and partners. They projected what they thought everyone wanted to see and didn’t let anybody into the truth about themselves.
Social media encourages us to show an image that is “perfect” to the outside, even when inside we can feel isolated and disconnected. People only show you what they want to show you and the grass is always greener on the other side. No one shares their bad days, only the good ones and it’s very easy to feel isolated when trying to connect to people through your phone.
“Ordinary Day”
We’ve always loved ’90s dance music, so the production of this song is an homage to the electronic music of our youth — Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Crystal Method, Massive Attack etc. We resolve the story here with some self-awareness and the desire to have an ordinary day. When anxiety is high, the return to normalcy is often ones main focus. You may not have all the answers, but sometimes learning more about yourself is the most valuable lesson.