Atria - Moonbrain
ATRIA RELEASES COOL AND TASTY ‘MOONBRAIN’
Travis Atria, who makes music under the name Atria, introduces his debut LP, Moonbrain. A well-known literary author, Travis wrote Traveling Soul, a biography of Curtis Mayfield, as well as his most recent book, Better Days Will Come Again, which narrates the fascinating true tale of jazz artist Arthur Briggs.
Atria
While his prose has appeared in prominent publications, his music has been featured on FX, MTV, and GQ.com, as well as in films, along with performances at Bonnaroo and SXSW.
Encompassing 10-tracks, the album begins with the title track, about which Travis shares, “I knew from the beginning this would be the leadoff track and the title track. The rest of the album developed from here. I came across the word moonbrain in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. It isn’t in the dictionary. I don’t think it technically means anything, but it just felt right, like it exactly describes the insanity we’re living through. We know we’re on the brink of extinction and are doing nothing about it. That’s called moonbrain.”
“Moonbrain” opens on jazz-flavored, growling rock, and then flows into a Steve Miller-like melody full of fat R&B surfaces and tints of jazz.
Moonbrain is wonderfully wrought, simultaneously cashmere and potent, composed of primarily lush R&B savors designed to captivate.
Entry points include “No Name Street,” rolling out on psychedelic-tinged R&B colors topped by Travis’s dazzlingly strident falsetto, imbuing the lyrics with tight, lofty timbres. Perhaps the best track on the album, “Jazz Cigarettes” delivers the perfect undulating jam, viscous and creamy. When the horns enter, the song exudes ultra-sensuous textures. Travis’s voice, at once filtered and hella-sexy provides the icing on the sonic cake.
“Lucky” starts off on a cool drum shuffle rolling into a funky R&B melody, featuring a vibrating bassline topped by Travis’s slick, glossy voice.
Talking about “Lucky,” Travis says, “This is a take on the Beatitudes, and I guess religion in general. I didn’t mean for it to be so cynical—like another hero of mine, Kurt Vonnegut, I am not a religious man, but I still think the message of the Beatitudes is beautiful and is something worth fighting for. But it’s also such a naïve way of thinking. It has nothing to do with reality. I guess I was trying to warn my niece and nephew: don’t take these things literally, because the meek will not inherit the earth, as nice as the idea is, and you’ll just end up with a broken heart. In the end, it comes down to power. And most of that comes down to who gets lucky.”
The last track, “Make Time,” travels on low-slung gleaming colors, a measured rhythm, and delivers hues of R&B polished to a high sheen, smooth and alluring.
Moonbrain is wonderfully wrought, simultaneously cashmere and potent, composed of primarily lush R&B savors designed to captivate.
