Baltimore based, Moraine, release their debut single, Life In This Haunted House, today (14 October 2022). Life In This Haunted House is from the band’s forthcoming debut album.
The premise for Life In This Haunted House is explained by guitarist and singer, Jason Brohm’s recent experiences with his grandmother who took Jason in at a very young age and bought a house for them to share until Jason moved out upon reaching adulthood. She continued to live there until she was diagnosed with advanced vascular dementia and subsequently needed to move to an assisted living facility. Jason describes the song as being about going back to the house he grew up in and realised it had no life in it anymore. The song is about seeing a house physically fall apart just like your loved one’s mental state. This is a heartbreaking theme for a song, and one that is performed with great passion and empathy.
Life In This Haunted House begins with some palm muted electric guitar strums before launching quickly into a really powerful rock song. Reminding us at this point of “Celebrity Skin by Hole, this track has a wonderful 90s grunge feel. The band are clearly influenced by this period and with some definite nods to Nirvana this is a quality and authentic track.
There’s some really interesting drum fills that captivated us, as well as the drums being heavy and “smacky” and sitting beautifully in the mix. This is 90s grunge at its very best.
The addition of a 16 beat tambourine and some harmonies in the second verse is a nice touch and we love the typically grunge style use of add9 chords throughout.
There’s absolutely wonderful separation between sections on this track – we particularly like the switch in guitar tones between sections – it really creates tension well.
The vocals, provided by Jason Brohm, are real quality and characterful, with just the occasional moment where he sounds a little like Ben Folds, we thought.
We fell in love with the half time guitar solo to the end with a chorus of vocals backing it up. This is heavy without being aggressive.
With regard to production, we’re very excited to see what else this artist can come up with. The guitars are clear and aggressive without being harsh or muddy. The drums smack through the track perfectly and the lyrics are clear throughout. A boost around 50Hz would bring up the thump of the kick drum and a boost around 2.5kHz would add some edge to the guitars but this track needs nothing to already be a quality release. To our ears, a light compressor / limiter and some make up gain would add to the warmth and punch of the track, as well as adding some overall volume.
A stunning debut from a band that we’re already excited to hear more from. Life In This Haunted House is an exciting, edgy and passionate performance from a band of truly talented musicians. More please!!