“The Rower” is like a gentle trip through time and space within a sonic diaspora of rock, experimental music, and grunge. The song dips you into the twang of electric guitars amongst a moody beat that imitates the impression of waking up from a wild night.
Written, recorded, and produced by Matt Monsoor, this multi-instrumentalist and visual artist seems to have an affinity towards creation in all its formats.
Monsoor has had a prolific career as a DIY, primarily solo artist with four albums already released. “The Rower” is his first single in ten years and takes a non-traditional narrative through the dichotomy of two divergent songs woven into one.
There is a lot of thought in theme and execution throughout the piece. It’s submitted by Monsoor himself that it contemplates the “frustration with American greed, hypocrisy, and the embarrassment of it all.”
Lyrics like “Cuz you are out of control” are represented in the disorientation of guitar delay and rhythmic clash that then transition into a new soundscape altogether. It’s gentle, yet bites.
Monsoor, who is also a woodworker, paints and explores music that is potentially informed by the way he interprets other mediums. There’s much to appreciate about such an approach. Art freaks like him can offer perspective to the paradigm of traditional pop or rock music in a manner that can create new sounds, innovate new genres, and generate creativity amongst the listeners who receive their work.
Row across your thoughts by watching the official music video below.
Anjali Rose Kumar is a musician, videographer, and creative freak based in Brooklyn, NYC. Anjali is learning to cope with a self-imposed quarantine in NYC’s second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic by spending her hours recording music in her bedroom, watching her unemployment leave her bank account, and embarking on a newly revived love of writing. In fact, when Anjali was 10 years old she was convinced she would live her life as a writer, however, she would often confuse her teachers by making up her own vocabulary and therefore buried the interest for 15 years. Cheers to the new years ahead of us. You can find out more about Anjali here.
