It's pretty common to feel called out by a soul song in my experience. I definitely felt the heat of the spotlight on me while listing to the opening track off of Detroit's Kenny Dixon, Jr. aka Moodymann's new album, Taken Away. Now "Do Wrong" is specifically about a lover complaining that their partner is not faithful and the consternation that this causes them. Literally, at one point, praying on their knees to god that their wayward sweetheart will change their loathsome habits. My situation is a little different. In my case, it's not infidelity, but laziness and insensitivity that caused the spotlight of the superego to shine on me. Like the rest of you, I have things that I want to accomplish and people I want to be there for. All too often though, I either just spend hours looking at my phone when I should be working, or bury myself in my hobbies when I should be spending time with loved ones. It's bad enough that I probably could use a good ass whooping to set me straight. And that's what I appreciate about Moodymann, the Detroit fixture and DJ is a straight shooter and is willing to say what you need to hear, whether you're ready to hear it. A good example of this is the bossa nova tinted brush off "I'm Already Hi," a protracted musical skit of sorts that sees Moodyman telling slimy partygoers trying to crash his pad that they've got nothing to offer him and that they should peddle their grift elsewhere. See also, the Dilla-drenched, soul-beat backed "Let Me In," which ends with Moody admonishing a lover, saying that she "never been a good soul to no one especially me." Despite very funny moments like "Hi," Taken Away's tone generally hews closer to that of "Let Me In," a sober rebuke of advances from fake friends, suffused with a general world-weariness. This withdrawn vibe may be attributable to an instance from Moody's actual life, referenced on the title track "Taken Away." In 2019 Moody was harassed and later arrested by police while attempting to enter his own home following a "concerned citizen" calling in a complaint about "suspicious behavior" in the neighborhood. "Taken Away" has that classic "Quiet Storm" rumble and krautrock crackle about it, elements of Moody's work that fans have grown to know and love, but there are also streaks of sirens, ominous bursts of brassy synths, distant claps of thunder, and overcast skys overhead. Signs of less then quite storming, coming to snatch Moody off his own doorstep. There are familiar floor-filling moments on the Taken Away too, but it's his encounters with mortality and helplessness depicted on the title track that will stay with me the longest.
