Brother Moses
Fayetteville, AR | Established. Jan 01, 2015 | INDIE
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Today we’re delighted to premiere the new music video from Arkansas indie rock outfit Brother Moses and their song Older. The song is a perfect bit of jangly guitar rock, and the music video shows the guys switching up instruments in the out of doors, until they get bored, and start wandering away from their instruments and goofing off.
There’s also a text message from Jeff Goldblum, some hot chest-thumping action, and an intense game of War. - USA Today
Brother Moses are releasing their single “Crazy Eyes” off of their forthcoming EP, Legends. The album, produced in LA with Raymond Richards (Local Natives, Avid Dancer, Ferraby Lionheart), drops on April 15 of this year.
The song’s concept, according to guitarist/vocalist James Lockhart, came to him in a dream.
“The story of this song happened in this wild dream I had,” said Lockhart. “One of those dreams that seems like a movie that you came up with, by yourself, in your sleep – about a married couple whose relationship gets rocked by a friend’s death. As the story unfolds, you learn that both the man and the woman were in love with this friend. I wanted to make a song that was like the movie in my head- try to not reveal too much, while also setting an underlying tone of mystery that’s disguised in a really bright, exciting pop song.”
Listen to the exclusive premiere of “Crazy Eyes” above. - Paste Magazine
Brother Moses, an indie rock project out of Fayetteville, Arkansas, has released a lighthearted – but slightly morbid – video for “Crazy Eyes,” a track from their forthcoming album Legends, which drops August 26 via Missing Piece records.
“We shot this entire video in one day in and around Fayetteville – I think it was something like a 16-hour shoot,” says singer James Lockhart. “We were asked to leave the golf course in the middle of filming the proposal scene because we kept getting in the way of the golfers. I think the security guard who asked us to leave thought we were doing an actual engagement photo session. When he kicked us out I’m pretty sure I heard him add ‘but congratulations’ at the end.” - American Songwriter
With the release of their new EP, Legends, just days away, Brother Moses have offered up a new track, “Time to Leave,” to keep their fans satiated till August 26. With it’s bouncy guitar and staccato delivery, “Time to Leave” is a relentlessly catchy offering from the Fayetteville, Arkansas quartet. Featuring an undeniable bounce from start to finish, the track feels reminiscent of vintage era Vampire Weekend with a little added pop. It’s a heart-warming soundtrack, and not one to be missed. - Wild Honey Pie
Brother Moses‘s bio says, “We’ve been making music since we were babies. But we’ve gotten much better since then. We promise.” And they would be right. Made up of James Lockhart, Moses Gomez, John Lewis-Anderson, and Matthew Heckmann, the indie rock band is from Fayetteville, Arkansas. They’ve just announced their sophomore EP, Legends, and released their video for “Crazy Eyes.”
The video is fun and entertaining to watch. It starts out with a ‘Drummer Wanted’ sign, and a pretty, blonde, innocent looking girl auditions to join the band. She gets the gig goes on a date with a band member on the roof where he mysteriously ended up on the pavement. She starts dating another member who gets shot. The cycle continues to repeat as the band sings, “she could kill you over and over,” and the video visually complies. “Crazy Eyes” has a catchy melody and strong drums driving the song. Despite the deaths, the video is lighthearted and funny, all the way until the very last line, “thank god we made it out alive.” And then the last member member (ironically) gets hit by a car.
Legends will be released on August 26th, via Missing Piece Records. - Impose Magazine
After self-recording their lo-fi demo in a swamp-ass-inducing garage, they self booked several trips across the country, while building a dedicated following back in their football-obsessed college town.
That buzz perked the ear of LA-based producer Raymond Richards (Local Natives, Avid Dancer), who invited Brother Moses to his Rancho Park studio to track a proper EP. The band, who for the most part are full time students, bailed on school for a week to head to LA to track the new EP. Those whirlwind sessions (made possible by the band’s tightness from non-stop touring) became Legends, which will drop August 26 via Missing Piece Records.
Brother Moses float between sunny surf rock and tongue-in-cheek indie about as well as any up and coming band out there right now, with a tightness and earnestness that usually takes years to perfect. - Windup Magazine
Let’s travel to Arkansas and meet a cohesive 4-piece that has been “making music” since the band were “babies.” “Crazy Eyes,” the band’s new single, is a track from the forthcoming EP, Legends, which will be released in April. The piece features a building sound, starting with strung-out keys that culminate in a repetitive drum and guitar riff that form a melodic instrumentations that is carried by solid vocals. The song features some excellent call-and-response instrument/vocal harmonies and an excellent bass guitar that pairs with the drums to form a wonderful rhythm section. - The Music Court
Brother Moses began in 2014 when James Lockhart and Moses Gomez came together while studying at The University of Arkansas. In the spring of 2015, the band teamed up with now full-time members Matthew Heckmann (bass) and John-Lewis Anderson (guitar, keys) to record their sophomore EP. The band traveled from their hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas to Los Angeles to record their new EP, Legends. They are quite an interesting band with a kick-ass song with a very interesting story. “Crazy Eyes” talks about a couple who loses a close friend, only to find out that both of them were in love with their friend. It is a very blunt song put together over a great rock beat. Very amazing and surprising. Brother Moses is a tremendous rock band with tremendous storytelling ability. I cannot wait to see what they come up next. - Audio Fuzz
Discography
Thanks For All Your Patience
March 2015 - Independent
Engineered and Produced by Brother Moses
All songs written and recorded by Brother Moses
Legends
August 2016 - Missing Piece Records
All songs written and recorded by Brother Moses
Produced by Raymond Richards
Engineered by Mike Post
Mastered by Mark Chalecki
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Bio
Brother Moses was founded in 2014 at the University of Arkansas by high-school classmates and college dorm mates James Lockhart and Moses Gomez. Soon after meeting percussion student Michael Seck, the trio began hauling all of their gear, on foot, under cover of darkness, to meet once weekly in a basement rehearsal space that they weren’t technically allowed to use, all so that they could practice for the University Battle of the Bands, which they lost. Undeterred, as soon as the school’s dorm-only living policy expired at the end of their freshman year, the band moved into what they dubbed “The Farm”, a tiny house at the edge of campus with a converted garage studio space, named for its comically large backyard.
Lockhart and Gomez spent the summer sweltering in the garage space, recording sweat soaked demos (the decades old air conditioning at The Farm was no match for the relentless Arkansas summer) that would end up evolving into an EP, Thanks for All Your Patience, released independently in March 2015.
Thanks for All Your Patience was hailed by Independent Clauses as “Clean, tight, clever, and earnest...a remarkable debut EP that leaves a big impression.” The project cast Lockhart’s young adulthood anxiety and loneliness against a backdrop ranging from indie rock minimalism to hollowed out walls of sound, catching the attention of not only the local university crowd, but of friends and collaborators in the Fayetteville music scene, Matthew Heckmann and John-Lewis Anderson, who would join the band as full-time members shortly after its release.
The five-piece booked several DIY tours to support the EP, taking their music far from isolated Arkansas to play in almost 20 states and one Canadian province over the next few months. While away, the music stirred up a devout local following for the group, packing out hometown shows that gained notoriety for their raucous energy and intense audience participation (their first headlining show at local flagship venue George’s Majestic Lounge ended with a healthy portion of the audience onstage.) By fall 2015, Brother Moses was making big waves in the land of Walmart, imploring a friend to send some of the band’s demos on a whim to LA-based producer Raymond Richards (Local Natives, Avid Dancer).
Richards, impressed by the strong vocals and energy of the demos, invited the band to re-record them as a proper EP with him behind the boards at his home studio in Rancho Park. Completely broke but relentlessly optimistic, the band looked to their local following for help funding the recording, and used Kickstarter to completely crowdfund the project. Although nearly every member of the band was enrolled in a full schedule of classes, the group collectively played hooky for a week to travel to California. (It should be noted that the band made a return to the University Battle of the Bands, this time triumphant, and used the prize money to pay for gas to make the trip to Los Angeles.)
After a whirlwind week of recording with Richards that included total rewrites of songs and a chance meeting with Jeff Goldblum, the product of this trip was Legends, a six-song EP that Lockhart told Punchland was an “exciting, cathartic self-redemption project.” Legends still builds on the band’s sunny indie-rock foundations, but Richards’ production adds a rugged quality to the edges of the surf-tinged tracks. The project takes a step away from the group’s earlier, lonelier themes to address the consequences and challenges of introspective people experiencing reckless young-adulthood.
2016 is already proving to be a banner year for Brother Moses. After the band's lead single 'Crazy Eyes' was featured in Paste Magazine, Legends caught the attention of Newark, NJ label Missing Piece Records, who signed the band in March. Brother Moses shared the stage with Diplo, BORNS, and more at the annual Springtime of Youth festival in Fayetteville, AR. Starting in May, Brother Moses played more than 30 shows on a self-booked tour spanning the entire United States. The band was featured in American Songwriter and Wild Honey Pie leading up to the release of their EP on August 26. Most recently, Brother Moses was featured in USA Today's outlet FTW.
Only time will tell, but the most exciting new faces in indie rock just might hail from the land of Wal-Mart.
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