If ever there was a song, and indeed an artist, that sums up what making music in the post-genre world is all about, it is ‘One Thought Away’ and Richard Tyler Epperson. Not for him, the clear demarcations and stay-in-your-lane attitudes of earlier eras; this latest single is adventurous and wide-ranging in all manner of ways. Familiar musicality filtered through fresh and forward-thinking approaches.
Although loosely a denizen of the rock world, the song builds through delicate piano-led melodies, chiming notes, and spoken-word, rap-infused vocal deliveries. By the time we are a minute in, the soundscape has broadened; drums power things onward, a fuller band sound builds, yet the dynamics stay fluid and fantastic, and as it comes out of lovely mid-song lulls, the song goes for it.
As it rises from the understated to the anthemic, the full sonic force of the song now lands – the beats are big and ornate, guitars now growl out their riffs, bass lines pound relentlessly, synths wash, and warp and ebb and flow, and the vocals blend voice-as-instrument melodies with empowering lyrics. It’s big, it’s clever.
And if the song feels as much like a musical theatre opus as a rock and roll tune, there is a reason for that blend of drama and drive. ‘One Though Away’ is “Issue No. 1” of a new graphic-novel-inspired musical, something that the video makes clear.
After several journeys into more chilled territory, Richard Tyler Epperson is not only back with a bang, but blurring musical forms – rock and roll, musical theatre, graphic art, video, song – in a way that is both new and exciting. Very exciting indeed.
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