Cleveland-born and Los Angeles-based indie songwriter Matt Moody has joined SoCal natives Raul Hernandez and Nick Gendian — production duo Seacoast — to release their joint EP, Gripping at the Wheel, which hit streaming services today, July 12th, 2024.
With a smooth if not sultry tip-toeing bass line, “Baphomets” marks the first track on the EP and the gang’s June single release. “There’s a knife at your back / Everybody’s on the attack,” Moody sings with angst-backed vibrato. Discussing gritty topics over a flowing dream pop-type groove, the song focuses on the power, deception, and paranoia that are interlaced with our world’s dynamics.
“Mustangs,” with its ethereally buoyant guitar bubbling over the song’s percussive groove, is a sublime anthem of our current times and the individual perspective that comes with them. “Phony politicians and their Clydesdale teeth / Laughing like a banshee while the twilight creeps,” Moody sings, continuing to touch on the commonality of consumer culture, materialistic status, and his encouraging, opposing view of greed’s normality. This track has a bit of a hip-hop delivery in the verses, again maintaining the smooth and melodic vibe delivered in the opening track.
Mimicking the time ticking with intricate guitar picking and a tight beat, “Awaiting” takes a lighter approach to the running conversation with a dazed vibe laying over the vocal’s drawn out sentences and the kick drum’s muted technique. An encapsulating energy match between the instrumentation and the lyrics, the song is classically indie again with a dash of R&B flair, painting an all-too-familiar picture of the uncertainties of the current social climate.
“The Passerby” is sure to resonate with anyone from a small town. The SoCal indie rock scene-inspired track highlights Moody’s modern-retro creative taste and speaks on the overwhelming, yet naturally beautiful, mundaneness of being stationed in an isolated town. Though the passerby in a town that just won’t allow its members to get in line, Moody sings, “Park it on the side / I wanna see for miles / Like the crystal in your eye.”
Closing the EP with perhaps its most hopping bop yet, “Devil and the Denim Dove” is a twisted love poem chewing on the attachment and openness to a not-always-pleasant relationship. “I been bad but I get through / I’mma leave the window open,” Moody sings from verse to chorus. A very 80s style synth completes the tone of the track, accompanied by lo-fi indie guitar and drums.
After riffing his way through highschool with the hard rock project Shred Rot, Moody skipped the traditional college pipeline for an offer from Nashville’s Music Row. Still A Kid in A Painted Sky claimed Moody’s first true solo effort, which included his own production, as well as Cleveland-based musicians’ accompaniment. Often touring, Moody also plays guitar for Wax Owls, an indie rock band with pure American songwriting.
Taking complicated realities and turning them to dancing jives, Matt Moody and Seacoast’s Gripping at the Wheel floods a melancholic world with tasteful tuning, melodic valor, and a splash of pride.
