‘Let the Record Play’ Marks a New Chapter for Moon Taxi

Moon Taxi, a Nashville indie rock staple for years now, have slowly been gaining a national audience with the help of their commercial-ready singles and exciting live shows. Known especially to rock festival stages from Bonnaroo to Coachella, the five-piece outfit is exceptional when it comes to writing arena-ready anthems that rock just hard enough, but employ plenty of pop elements. Having released all their records to this point on their label, 2018’s Let the Record Play marks a new chapter as Moon Taxi signed with major label RCA late last year.

Their hope with this new record is to “make a record that lends itself as easily to the home speakers as it does to live shows, blending the best of pop – great melodies, smart hooks – with lyrics that conjure stories and inspire real thoughtfulness”. It’s easy to see this goal at work across the album. However, often the goal is left only half-fulfilled. As can be imagined, Let the Record Play is what unfortunately happens too often when indie rock bands who already have heavy pop sensibilities get signed to a major label – the poppiness increases, and the creativity suffers.

Thematically, this record can be split evenly into two halves, with five songs each contributing to one major theme. The first half is loaded with upbeat anthems (and all four lead singles) that rely heavily on escapism and just having fun with the music, hence the title. Of these songs, the album’s first single, “Too High”, stands as the strongest track, employing a catchy saxophone motif over a driving tropical beat as Trevor Terndrup offers optimistically, “We can come together / We won’t give up on the fight.”

This first half is where major label pop influence is felt the most. “Not Too Late” features a synth-heavy chorus that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Taylor Swift or Ellie Goulding project. While follow-up “Good As Gold” closer resembles recent Maroon 5, especially with that “Moves Like Jagger”-esque whistle part. These types of hooks are just a little disappointing from a group that was able to create such captivating earworms on past songs like “Year Zero” and “The New Black”. However clean and calculated Moon Taxi feels on this effort, they’re still able to offer strong instrumentals like the warm guitars on slow burner “No More Worry”.

As the first half comes to a close, the second half comes booming in with blues-rock anthem “Moving to the City”. Although a somewhat standalone track here, it’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser this summer as the back end of the song is especially strong with its simple blues lyrical structure, robust vocals, and driving guitar riffs. “Nothing Can Keep Us Apart” follows with a “Born to Run”-esque runaway lovers trope that marks the back half of the album. However, none of these last songs can capture the magical imagery of Springsteen. Instead, we get lines like “We’ll run those streets / Stay up all night” or “Show me the way, the way, the way / We can run, run, run right to the edge.”

“Trouble” is the saving grace of the album’s second half, which goes from a sweet duet backed by string quarter to a Steely Dan jam track. Dad rock? Maybe, but the instrumentals are well-executed as Spencer Thomson and Wes Bailey trade solos on guitar and organ.

I have no doubts that this record will lend itself easily to live shows, as they hoped. The pop melodies and hooks are there and plentiful, and I do believe will be much more enjoyable in a high-energy live setting. At home, however, the fluff is a little too apparent and the hope to “inspire real thoughtfulness” is not apparent much at all. Though Moon Taxi’s offering of optimistic pop rock serves well as an energy and mood booster, it’s a step back in creativity from past efforts.