Album Review: The Molochs “American Velvet Glory” Brings The Beat Generation To Millennials
Listening to America’s Velvet Glory is like reading Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. You are confronted with poetic verses on the emotions and characters you find while you are lost. Yet, being “lost” is not a bad thing to The Molochs but a natural way of being. No one know who they are, where they are going, and what to do with that fact, to which The Molochs have created an album dedicated to loneliness and loveliness of feeling “lost”.
Have you ever gotten lost in a city? It is both terrifying and wonderful because as you desperately try to recall the path you were on, you also discover new, beautiful things about the path you have accidentally fallen upon. This is the sentiment America’s Velvet Glory captures with music that is 100% inspired by 60’s folk-rock. Yet, there is no better generation and style to represent the feeling of youthful bliss/ confusion than the Beat Movement, of which literature and music were born from a youthful call to question life, history, and humanity as a force to be reckoned or wrecked. Songs like “You Never Learn” and “Cryin” are torn love letters to the self-destruction and righteousness that can plague a person who dreams of reaching the stars but cannot stop burying themselves in dirt. The choices we make to elevate or diminish ourselves are apart of the musical dilemmas The Moloch face in America’s Velvet Glory, which is why it is such an enthralling album. While many artists usually aim for big productions and loud voices to discuss the self-deprecation a soul can muster, it is the casual, quick guitar arrangements and the voice of Lucas Fitzsimons that show the dangers of self-doubt/loathing is that they are not huge, sporadic moments but small, consistent ones.
Lucas has a Buddy Holly meets Bob Dylan voice that he uses to elaborate the loneliness of his lyrics. Even when he is in love, like “You & Me”, or surrounded by people, “New York”, he never loses his awareness of being on his own and wandering this world. He plays with his vocals, not in range, but in tone to exude his internal battle: who do you love when you are alone? Yourself? Lucas’ capacity to show vulnerability through a darkened timbre will have listeners’ in love with the entire record. America’s Velvet Glory is a potent look into the joys and woes of observing earthly life while feeling like an alien. Such a distant, mythic emotion is relevant not only to the band ‘s record, but also their core essence because Moloch is the name for the ancient god, the child eater, the demander of sacrifice, and villain in Ginsberg’s Howl. Lucas named his band the Molochs because he knew he’d have to make sacrifices to get what he needed/ wanted from a musician’s life. He wanted a constant reminder of the Ginsbergian monster he’d be fighting against when his relationships and career potential felt like they were crumbling, he was sleeping on couches in terrifying apartments, and was depleted from awful people and their awful decisions. With up-tempos and starry melodies, America’s Velvet Glory is a blissful response to the lowliness life can be placed in.
Rather than panic at your “lostness”, join The Molochs in confronting demons through music, friends, wine, and the sheer enjoyments of life. This life and world may not always be enlightened, but America’s Velvet Glory is an album that shows you how to still feel light. Even in your confusion over where your life is going, you can still enjoy the fact that you have a life to go. For More Information On The Molochs And To Buy The Amazing Record America’s Velvet Glory Click Here.
