Viking Moses - Crosses

Check out Fakejazz.com’s review of Viking Moses’ Crosses released on the 31st of July on Poptones!

Sometimes the simplest music can be so inexplicably awesome. Viking Moses, a folk singer-songwriter perhaps best (only?) known for being featured on Banhart’s Golden Apples of the Sun compilation, uses just acoustic guitar, piano, and voice. He even uses a couple tricks for which I have accused lesser acts of being cloying and worse, like basing the melody of two songs off the “Hallelujah Song” (and I don’t mean the Rufus Wainwright song, but rather the song you learned in Sunday School). However, the simplicity works. In fact, Sunday School folk is an apt description of Moses’ songs on this record. It’s very direct and earnest, and not afraid to show its heart and sing about love in an open, idyllic manner. He has a knack for making a simple, cute song more substantial by throwing in a clever, little twist or two. A song about how much he loves Emma’s funny smile turns into a sing-songy love of other natural phenomena: fish, sun, rain, and bees, then singing “God made the (fishes/honey bee/rain/sun) and God made me.” But for the bear, as Herzog would warn you, “I leave the sleepy bear where he be, God made the sleepy bear far from me.” Moses paints himself as a nomad, touring the country yearning to be home with Emma (who for the most part could just as easily be his child instead of a romantic love). “Little Arms” languishes in the separation. A chorus of places like Georgia, Virginia, Carolina, and tomorrow being “a long way now” is followed a hopeful verse, singing “We’ll forget these lifelong days and wrap ourselves into a little ball.” It’s moments like that where Moses manages to warm my heart, which is rare considering how naturally distant and cold I usually am. Perhaps it’s nothing to get excited about, but when my body can’t handle another bit of experimental noise, there’s nothing better.

BACK TO PREVIOUS PAGE