Review: Mozez — Lights On
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How do you classify an artist who seamlessly blends experimental EDM, pop, R&B, soul, and gospel? You don’t. You simply sit back and enjoy the ride. And what an enjoyable ride it is! With his new album, “Lights On”, Mozez takes us on a spiritual journey that will leave none of us indifferent. These past months have been bleak and difficult for many of us, and the future seems uncertain too. However, Mozez has hope, and he’s ready to share it with the world. His message of universal love is carried by his incredibly smooth voice. The Jamaican-born singer has been praised since his days fronting Zero 7, and once again, he delivers a warm and perfectly controlled vocal performance to support his beautifully crafted lyrics on his third solo LP.
The lead single, “Looking At Me”, tackles prejudice with subtlety: “I see you looking at me. Tell me what do you see? An angel with a halo? A man from the ghetto?” But in truth, it sounds more like an appeal to love and understanding than a condemnation: “Higher, higher. You and me. You gotta get me. Higher, higher. Enlighten me.” Son of a preacher, Mozez understands that peace and unity cannot be cultivated when people fear one another and that our divisions are only skin-deep. In this song, he tells us that we are all in this together, sharing one planet: “We rise at break of dawn, yeah it dawned on me. We spinning round and round again. Seems like this game never ends.”
That appeal to opening our hearts and minds to one another is also very present on “Wait A Minute”. However, that song is more than a plea for love. It’s a rallying cry for a generation caught between confusion and worry, in times of uncertainty and division, when the future looks darker than the present: “Take a moment of time. A minute longer that’s just fine. Before its fade away. Before it fades to gray. I wanna know, who controls it all?” But it’s not a song of hopelessness. The beat is energetic without being frantic, and the lyrics are an encouragement to seize the day and love without fear: “Who do you think you’re taking down? You can’t keep the beat underground. Where there’s life then life abounds. Where there’s love then light is found… Take a day or two. Do all the things you wanted to. Live for the day. Hey what’s going on?” With Mozez’s smooth voice guiding us through the ups and downs of a strange present, the future doesn’t look so…
