Moon Rider has positively challenged my perception of what makes a piece of music tick for me, putting the final nail in the coffin of my idea that musical intricacy was a matter of harmonic and rhythmic complexity, and for a challenge, it has been an impossibly gorgeous and easy one.
Ada’s German. She has toured the world and had her music feature in illustrious best-of listings. Tino Hanekamp, author, and the Hamburg concert hall tycoon said about her music: “In the broadest sense of the word, it’s pop. But ultimately it’s music that exudes so much warmth and tranquility that it puts even the greatest bundle of nerves into a state of ultra-fine-tuned receptiveness…”. And for Moon Rider’s case, this description hits the nail right on its proverbial head.
Her latest release is a tiny 2-song EP, and the song in question is its title track. Moon Rider is composed of the ancient 1, 4, 5 minor progression, but the harmonic rhythm sees the lenient and smooth minor fourth chord take the second and third positions in the traditional 4 chord loop, for a sound that consumes you in a soft, story-time feel. The simplicity of the composition allows the music to become a hypnotizing blanket of familiarity, prodded on by Ada’s piano, striking the chords as watered down minor 7ths on each downbeat, with minute and sparse added pieces of ornamental chord hits. Each down beat has a chord, and that makes the rhythm endlessly numbing; the gentle, partially muffled, and reverb-soaked nature of the piano sound makes this numbness soothing and embracing, a perfect tapestry to sprinkle Ada’s heart warming singing on top.
The lilting mystique of Ada’s melodies and rhythmic flow is aided by her low alto voice, which she uses during the verses conversationally, before a call out to the titular moon rider announces the chorus with a gentle lift and a gorgeously written melody. The chorus proper, the piece’s glory and crowning jewel is a study in harmony, where Ada’s voice triples, singing the melody from 3 different starting points. The effect is startling and captivating, and the sound is like honey flowing. Rich, lush, and unforgettable.
Intricacy in Ada’s Moon Rider is equally hard to miss and hard to see. Without paying attention, Moon Rider is by far one of the easiest, gentlest, most soothing and musically unassuming songs that I’ve ever heard, but start to look deeper, and layer upon layer of carefully chosen and placed nuance start to appear before you like a rose blooming. Moon Rider gave me a very clear idea of what i personally seem to look for in music, in my current phase in life, where I gravitate towards art that relaxes and comforts when I’m need of a mental break, but stimulates and invites in the windows of respite when I’m willing to dig deeper for detail and meaning.