I first encountered Moses Gold in a dank cellar in Manchester. That makes it sound worse than it was; truth be told I was in the hip-without-trying Soup Kitchen waiting for Esben And The Witch when Moses Gold came along and compelled my undivided attention. It’s the musical alter ego of Phil Young (last seen in Daily Mail reader baiting Christian AIDS), although as Phil points out, Moses Gold belongs almost equally to producer Espher, who was on the stage with him that night. Mr Young is, it turns out, known for his frankness and disarming honesty, and that’s what got me on the night – the way he dismembered his soul on the floor while half frightening the more tightly laced amongst the audience. The music runs the risk that it might just turn out to be one of the natural successors to Wu Lyf, not least for the way it interleaves raw vocal into layered electronica.
New track ‘Great Depression’ is just what you’d expect in its naked honesty. Let’s be frank, Phil’s almost certainly singing about himself here. And yet, there’s hope too as he puts down lines like “Looking into the light” and “I don’t want to waste my life”. Production is again by Espher.
