@MoStFeAr (pronounced ‘atmosphere’) is an independent alt R&B artist, songwriter and producer from Orlando, FL. The name is a bit of a manifesto really in that he wants to create spaces through sound that you can step into and inhabit for a while. He does it all himself, from the writing and production through to the concept and the visual aesthetic. His releases are intended to be read as chapters in one continuous story rather than as individual drops. That world is built on what he calls ‘beautiful darkness’ (a mixture of romance, mystery and sadness set against the backdrops of late night city streets). He also likes to cross borders, giving his projects multilingual titles and drawing on a variety of different cultures.
La Noche De Brujas ハロウィーン
La Noche De Brujas (Halloween) came out via Quiet Eyes Records and the title itself is a microcosm of the cultural blending he likes to do (the Spanish phrase for ‘Witches Night’ paired with the Japanese word for Halloween). It was recorded in a pro studio in Orlando, but the vision was completely his own, the studio just providing him with a cleaner slate on which to work, the ideas having always existed in his home recorded ambient work.
The first thing you notice is that these songs aren’t constructed like your standard R&B single. There’s no quick hook designed for repetition, no three minute limit. They just exist as they are, with the melody, the lyrics and the sheer emotional weight of the piece determining where it goes and how long it will go on. The end result is something that sits somewhere between alt R&B, ambient and a very personal confession. It’s all about the layers, the instrumentation and the haunting melodies. He treats the vocals and the production as one and the same and the arrangements are all about creating a scene. It’s the scene of a conversation at 2am, it’s the scene of being in an alien city, it’s the scene of wanting someone so close and yet wanting to be free.
Those are the contradictions at the heart of the EP. The writing is all about the messy psychology of love: wanting to be known and understood whilst at the same time remaining a mystery, wanting to be in a relationship but being terrified of being trapped, wanting to be in a relationship but also wanting to be free to go. It’s all drawn from his own experience of relationships and a lot of late night thinking and rather than resolving the stories, he leaves them open so you can find your own meaning in them. The darkness is never in any way threatening. It’s elegant, it’s romantic and it’s very human.
“Flash Over” is the track that encapsulates the whole project really. It’s all about the images of fire, of destruction, of change. It’s about what happens inside a person after an experience that’s so intense it just burns everything down. The length of the track is absolutely deliberate, it’s not a track that you’re going to get through in a flash. It’s a track that you’re meant to sit in and absorb. It’s a track that plays like a scene in a neo-noir film really, all dim rooms, neon reflections and the feeling that it just won’t go away. It’s the track that shows his approach to songwriting as essentially cinematic literature, full of layers and metaphor and all sorts of twists in the narrative.
@MoStFeAr is still in the stage of building out his catalog and finding the audience that will actually connect with this kind of music (it’s very patient, very immersive). He does have a view to one day do a full live show with the music and the visuals.
Final Thoughts
What’s so striking about La Noche De Brujas ハロウィーン is that it absolutely refuses to rush. @MoStFeAr allows his songs to breathe and trusts the atmosphere to hold you. The result is music that feels like a place rather than something you just listen to as a playlist filler. “Flash Over” is a great example of what he can achieve with time and texture and the EP as a whole is such a lovely combination of romance and shadow. It’s a very bold, atmospheric release and one that you really have to sit down with and let it take over for a while to get the full effect.
Follow @MoStFeAr
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