Tag: Brandon Brewer

“Don’t Talk” Finds moodring Charting the Poetry of a Messy Breakup With Elegant Soundscapes

“Don’t Talk” by moodring is one of those songs that sounds so sunny it’s like a musical manifestation of a TV version of California. But like the actual California there’s a real version with all the regular human challenges and this tune sounds like the kind of song that delves into a nuance of human relationships and interior life that can wash by you if you don’t take the time to think and feel it through. It’s a beyond break-up song. But sung from a melancholic perspective of a person who is ready to move on from a situation that became intolerable but the other party keeps wanting to re-enter her life by lingering around the edges of her life. Singer Charli Smith somehow makes the chorus of “Don’t talk through nothing if you’re not just gonna walk back” work with Brandon Brewer’s careful production and rhythm. And in doing so makes a very heavy sentiment seem to float away like the wearied anxiety the situation must produce. Fans of Japanese Breakfast will appreciate the palette of sounds and the way the duo writes bright and moody melodies in a dream pop/bedroom pop style that linger with you. Listen to “Don’t Talk” on Spotify and follow moodring at the links below.

Moodring on Instagram

moodring’s “Poison” is a Hearbreaking Lo-Fi Dream Pop Reminder to Let Go When the Love is Gone

moodring packs a lot of surprises into its song “Poison.” In the beginning it sounds like a modern version of a slackery, lo-fi indie rock song. But Charli Smith reflects on the ways in which one has conflicted feelings about the person you love. The gentle, ethereal guitar work and minimalist percussion and lingering, melodic drones coupled with Smith’s laid back delivery give the impression of someone walking leisurely through a gallery of memories, many of them painful, while trying to maintain a sense of cool, of composure, while laying out a litany of heartbreaking thoughts like a goodbye letter to a relationship that has worn to nothing. Yet sometimes even those awful relationships are hard to let go when it’s one of the only things in your life giving it steady meaning. Smith’s lyrics speak directly to those complex feelings even when you know it’s over. When she sings “You’re breaking me down, you’re drying me out” it sounds like that final realization that you have to move on if you’re to make it through even as melodramatic as that may seem to you in that moment. Brandon Brewer’s production casts it in the musical equivalent of washed out lo-fi colors but that in some ways makes the song hit harder like you’re hearing your own words through an AM radio like a ghost of your old self reminding you of where you’ve been and don’t want to go again but may follow those bad habits and instincts without having your own words as a reminder to do better for yourself. It’s like a diary entry or a letter to the offending party you never send but have to write out for yourself to see as a form of self-therapy. Listen to “Poison” on YouTube and connect with moodring at the links below.

moodring on Instagram