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Highspeeds

Elliot Moss Returns with Meticulous Melodies on 'Boomerang' EP

Music ReviewSean McHughComment

Elliot Moss is a bit of an enigmatic figure within the world of independent music. He’s relatively young – still early 20s – and by far and away one of the most talented composer in his arena, regardless of age. Yet somehow, Moss’ work has become criminally under-covered and under-celebrated, at least for longer than a post-release week.

Perhaps part of the reason Moss’ work finds itself residing on the outer rings of the independent wunderkind producer orbit lies in the sheer excellence of his compositions. Point and case being Moss’ debut LP, Highspeeds, which dropped in 2015. It was highly musical with minimalist melodies draped over impressive jazz cuts and electronic 808s alike. Moss quickly differentiated himself from the rest of his debut class, filled mostly of bedroom producers hiding behind airy and minimalistic compositions.

Unlike some of Moss’ less meticulous yet over-hyped contemporaries (pick any of the PBRnB’ers out there today), the multi-instrumentalist melds genre in some of the most seamless and logical of manners. If one were forced to make gross immediate genre comparisons, Moss might best be described as the realist, less emotional nephew of Nick Murphy imitating James Blake in the midst of a Radiohead math-rock kick.

All that to be said, Moss seems to have set course toward the zeitgeist, rather than against it on his newest extended play effort, Boomerang. The EP opens with an almost instant groove – more languid and airy than Highspeeds, but altogether unique to Moss’ oeuvre.

Admittedly, aspects of Moss’ choice of synth effect and ventilated falsetto on album opener “Closedloop” do sound perilously close to James Blake. Luckily, neither are the zenith of the track – the song’s highlight is one of many new pathways for Moss – a nearly affectless break beat that never wavers for the entirety of the song. It feels more hip-hop than a James Blake single, but the manner of which is by no means forced. It’s an initial observation for more concerted listeners and then nothing more, as it diverts the listener’s ear from any and all undo comparison.

Other tracks on Boomerang flirt with either side of the dark wave and deep synth pop that seems to be en vogue at the moment. “Without Light” is sonically driven, as a Mount Kimbie-esque music sequencer dominates the track as Moss’ vocals serve primarily as yet another aspect of layering within the song.

Meanwhile, “99” is a largely lyric driven track that revolves around the hook of “I may never come home” and the thought of separation and abandonment. One may even feel moved to describe Moss’ lyrical preference on “99” as “mature” while considering his age, but that would be a tired and easy observation. If anything, the song is sultry and noirish, a nominally confessional track that explores the perils and pleasures of, for lack of a better interpretation, “solidarity.”

All throughout Boomerang Moss finds plenty of space to scrutinize and verify his own abilities within his respective dark pop arena, especially on Boomerang’s eponymous song. It’s the album’s second shortest, yet most rewarding track. “Boomerang” is tender and reserved, all the while swirling with confessional spirit. There’s a Klavierwerke nature once “Boomerang” comes and goes right into the even shorter “My Statue Sinking” - it crescendos into a highly emotive and orchestral whirl of tempestuous thought alongside Moss’ hypersensitive phrasing. The Boomerang triumvirate finishes with “Dolly Zoom,” a soft cooing confessional of “blood running circles inside the machine” and coming to grips with an end.

Where the three tracks that precede it embody the most idealized version of Elliot Moss’ historic “sound,” Boomerang closer “Falling Down and Getting Hurt” reveals an exciting foray into what could be yet to come on future iterations of Moss’ discography. The album closes as groovily as it opens – a reticent club banger propelled by a break beat flowing in and out of a dark wave dream. In a nutshell, “Falling Down and Getting Hurt” feels a lot like what one might imagine a happy James Blake to sound like, but that’s not happening any time soon, so thank goodness for Elliot Moss.

It honestly pains me to have referenced James Blake the handful of times he has been alluded to or sourced in this review, but I believe it to be accurate. Elliot Moss will not suffer the assignment of being “the next” whomever, but, its fair to point out that Boomerang being an EP – and a solid one at that – it's hard not to recognize the similarities – not only sonically, but in the career sense – between Moss’ post-debut EP and James Blake’s Klavierwerke EP way back when. They explore all aspects of the dark wave universe, from minimalist piano lyricism to heavy encoding and sequencing. Regardless, Moss’ work on Boomerang operates on a more earnest level, but all the while being just as apt for being ripped by Kanye at any given moment (that is a compliment). It's hard to gauge where Moss could go from this point on, but with the command of musical flexibility he exhibits on Boomerang, it can only be up.