Ed Schrader’s Music Beat Share Roman Candle

While I adored the early music of Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, I think I’m more in awe now seeing how they’ve dedicated themselves to never repeating what they’ve done before, going so far in their recent bio to say “the next album’s gotta be different from the last one.” This new single offers up a heartbeat-pulse to begin, but soon rushes off to meet Ed’s vocals; they sound like they’re a bit more operatic than one might expect, which is one of the consistently fascinating things about the group as they seem to evade pigeonholing from twerps like me. There’s this anxiousness that builds throughout, almost like some sort of possession has taken over Schrader, forcing him to belt his voice high above the frantic nature of the single itself. Their new album, Orchestra Hits, is shaping up quite nicely, if I do say so; it’s out via Upset the Rhythm on September 20th.