Back in the summer of 2012, when Spotify was a technology of the future for me, an ad suddenly appeared for a new Indie rock band called Walk the Moon (stylized as WALK THE MOON). After listening to a preview of their music in between two songs on my playlist, I decided that I liked their sound, and so I went to their profile on the site. Little did I know that I was about to discover one of my favorite groups of all time.
Their first album was self-titled and included a few tracks that immediately had me up and dancing, including “Anna Sun”, “Tightrope”, and “Shiver Shiver”. However, what I admired most about these four twenty-somethings from Cincinnati was that they could vary their style with slower and more melancholy songs such as “Iscariot”, and they really put emotion into everything that they were doing. They cared about the music they were making, which was something many artists had seemed to disregard in favor of making money at that point. I knew that I had to spread the word around about their existence, so I went to the first music-savvy person I could think of: my older cousin Jack.
Jack was a senior at NYU’s liberal arts school during my freshman year of high school, and when I visited him in the spring, I introduced him to my discovery. “I just found this really cool band last summer.” I told him. “They’re called Walk the Moon. They kind of remind me of Vampire Weekend in a way.” We ended up watching some of their music videos on YouTube, and Jack was thoroughly impressed. Not only was he a fan of their sound, but he had an appreciation for the way that they filmed their projects and the sort of ‘homemade’ feeling that came with every three-to-four minute segment. Before long, they were a favorite with both him and his girlfriend as well.
I was lucky enough to witness a live performance by Walk the Moon in September of 2013, at the famous Terminal 5 concert hall in New York. There, they gave their audience a sneak peek at two new tracks that would be a part of their second album. That album, entitled TALKING IS HARD, was just released on December 2nd, 2014, and many of its tracks are making their way to the top of the charts, most noticeably the fast-paced “Shut Up and Dance” and the jovial "Different Colors". On July 10 and September 24, they’ll be coming back to New York to perform in Central Park, two shows that many people will definitely want to attend.
I am so proud of this band for their dedication to the music industry and the hard work that has led them to success. I am a Moonwalker, and I’m not ashamed to say so.
