José Benjamín Escobar unleashes a torrent of emotion on fantastically lush “Mordecaih”
Originally written for Alt Citizen
José Benjamín Escobar is extremely talented. The classically trained composer and multi-instrumentalist brings a highly skilled and nuanced approach to his unique brand of vivid new age indie that draws from a wide palette of inspirational sources to craft distinctly modern narratives rendered in song. His latest single, “Mordecaih,” is a complete experience as untouchable and picturesque as a landscape captured on canvas by a Renaissance master exhibited with egalitarian reverence in the marbled halls of The Met.
“Mordecaih” is a heartbreaking ballad of love lost, a fleeting expression of profound sadness and hopeful sentiment that builds and breaks in fantastic fashion. Beginning with dazzling piano work that sparkles and bounces like sunlight on gently rippling water, Escobar’s lament soars above lush musical terrain like a falcon racing on the leading crest of a warm wind, the tips of its pinons fluttering with minute precision. The gorgeous piano continues to build before exploding into a thrilling cacophony of layered instrumentals and measured percussion, a sudden and sheer cliff face rising from the plains below. A towering guitar solo rends the clouds, beams of light bursting upon an expansive landscape of emotion awash in the momentary warmth of memory before clouds once again cover the land in grey shadow as the track comes to a close.
At just under three minutes “Mordecaih” packs a startling amount of emotion into its brief runtime thanks to Escobar’s mastery of composition, both musically and lyrically. As an instrumental alone the track is moving enough to incite a wistful pause, but the lyrics smash through the strongest emotional embankments to unleash a torrent of feeling. “The sky is falling, the floor is sinking” hits like a ton of bricks wrapped in velvet, a profound statement on unyielding despair so intense time and space lose all meaning for the afflicted, drifting listlessly like a discarded feather in the wind.
But in spite of the sadness, or perhaps because of it, “Mordecaih” reaches for something beyond the abyss. There is a brightness behind the gloom, a comfort in wishing “health, love, and safekeeping along this course that we call life” to the one who as gone. A face upturned and smiling through a passing sun-shower, the nourishing rains feeding the spiritual growth of a forest of maturity.
Follow José Benjamín Escobar on Instagram. Stream his library on Spotify and Bandcamp.