Every week, the Milwaukee Music Premiere sponsored by Density Studios connects the city’s artists with our listening audience. If you’re an artist with a track you’d like us to debut exclusively on Radio Milwaukee, head over to our Music Submission page to learn how.
We don’t start many Milwaukee Music Premieres with dictionary definitions, but …
anhedonia (noun)
an·he·do·nia [an-(ˌ)hē-ˈdō-nē-ə]
A psychological condition characterized by inability to experience pleasure in normally pleasurable acts.
You might expect a track bearing that title to be drone-y and dour, but in the case of this premiere from Farewell Moonlight, you’d be incorrect. The alt-rock/post-punk project from brothers James and David Webb ride a wavelength that feels connected to The Bends-era Radiohead, with staccato guitar riffs and insistent vocals. More “Planet Telex” and less “(Nice Dream).”
Frontman James Webb brings more than a little Thom Yorke to his presentation, particularly in the chorus from “Anhedonia.” The punched-up whininess Radiohead applies almost uniformly across their catalog is present here (James, please take that as a compliment) — an appropriate application for a song about blasé reactions to beauty.
As Farewell Moonlight relayed to us, James found himself disconnected and disassociated in the face of a delightfully sunny day, thinking to himself, “Oh, what a beautiful day.” And an opening lyric was born.
Oh, what a beautiful day
To dream of nowhere again
Sleep, just keep sleeping
This is not living
I just bide my time
The song mirrors James’ self-awareness as it continues, combining recognition and rectification as it implores the listener, “I’m not doing enough / Drag me outside / By the wrist.” The brothers explained those lines as relating “to the desire to have our complicated lives be course-corrected, especially when things get to be too much in our day-to-day.” A lyrical cry for help, if you will.
Lend a hand (or a couple ears) by enjoying “Anhedonia” on demand using the player at the top of the page or on the 88Nine airwaves throughout today (6:30 and 10:30 a.m.; 2:30 and 6:30 p.m.). The track will land on Farewell Moonlight’s sophomore album, Violence, when it drops July 12, the same night as the band’s album-release show at the Greene House in Whitewater.
