I Oh You – widely renowned as the mercurial home base for DZ Deathrays, Violent Soho, DMA’S and City Calm Down amongst others – have announced their latest signing; a vibrant dark horse in the pack of glory-riddled rock bands. Presenting MOSSY, a one-man show producing some visceral psychedelic pop tunes and most notably, a debut single to coincide with the label signing, Electric Chair.
MOSSY is here. A punk dropout turned stratospheric superstar, Jamie Timony is pulling out all the stops on his new solo project with grandiose results.
Jamie Timony, the talent behind MOSSY goes far beyond his solo turn, with major acting stints alongside the likes of Willem Dafoe and Geoffrey Rush, to his role as lead singer in Sydney punk band These New South Wales. As far as his music career goes, his creative brain behind TNSW has received national recognition with their recent rockumentry series that is an utter self-deprecating piss take on “Sydney’s premier punk outfit” and their struggle to fame in Sydney’s Inner West music scene.
The 6-episode series is a hilarious audio-visual array of nipple tape, average-at-best tree climbing, and overall punk profanity. Recognised as the crazy passionate lead from the ensemble, it is refreshing seeing a side from Timony through MOSSY that completely removes itself creatively from These New South Wales, not to mention a pretty different direction from I Oh You based on their other signed forerunners.
MOSSY’s sound in Electric Chair is almost spiritual, with constantly engaged electronics that guide and sometimes override his leisurely placed vocals. The electronic influences are reminiscent of the weirder side of MGMT, and psychedelic distortions comparable to Tame Impala cushion his shimmery vocals that echo with overlaying harmonies and an essence of ease. “I feel so high on my electric chair, with my head hanging, the feeling evades me so far” remains a constant refrain that drives the story. The flow of the song remains pretty constant, with no sudden diversions from the relaxed vibe, taking you on a super mellow yet weird journey – like having a really gnarly dream that you can’t wake up from.
The video clip accompanying Electric Chair, directed by Kris Moyes who has also produced videos for the likes of Grizzly Bear and The Rapture, is disturbing to say the least. MOSSY’s evident acting abilities are channeled as he embraces a parallel character to the Greek mythology god Narcissus in a theatrical journey that leaves you feeling violated yet melodically satisfied- we haven’t seen anything this weird since David Bowie in Labyrinth.
Trapped in a cave of some sort, you watch MOSSY stare into the abyss in a state of insanity – he eats a moon rock, trips at his reflection, and performs hypnotising pelvic rotations. All the while a removed female character plays the charade of the provocateur (comparable to the Greek wood nymph Echo), with graceful ballet movements drastically juxtaposing moments when she gets frisky with a skeleton. If that doesn’t rattle your bones enough then the giant tarantulas are sure to. All in all, the song and video combined amalgamates in a dark and twisted theatrical fantasy.
The song is a first noteworthy taste from his upcoming self-titled debut EP MOSSY, which is dropping on May 13th.
