While Moon Walker is better known for the outfit’s politically charged lyrics and antagonistic tone, “Light Burns Out” is a softer shift to look at how we’re all in this together. That doesn’t make it any less of a rocking rally.
Keeping to their characteristic high-energy vocal lines over a languid harmony, the contrast in energy highlights the emotion-laced lines like “we drown, we drown together.” The steady drum and bass perpetually march us forward from musical section to musical section. By the time the instrumental bridge quiets the vocals, it’s just a short breather between the jam-packed verses and choruses.
From the beginning lyrics (“Now that the clocks are turning back, why don’t we turn them back to ’52?”) to the choral closing, Moon Walker fills this single with surprising shifts. Even the music video pulls so much out of a single static shot. The wall of TV screens behind the musicians dance with crude illustrations symbolizing the lyrics.
As the lights cycle through the color spectrum, it further emphasizes the togetherness—all colors, all color combinations are in this together.
Watch “Light Burns Out” below.
Ben is an advertising Madman who spends his days with words and music. When he’s not writing for his supper, he’s eating it at some of NYC’s most interesting restaurants.
