“Pain happens – suffering is optional”
The ways we try to deal with loss or unexpected change can be vast and varied. For me, a piece of art or music, like this – Movin On – offers a feeling of possibility and understanding; it makes you realise the inevitability of change, of evolution, of the bad that must come through in order for the good to really mean anything. It makes you feel less alone in your struggles.
T.S. Monaghan has crafted this release out of his own deeply personal difficulties with loss, but he’s done so with an underlying sense of optimism – you can hear this in the music, the opening instrumentation feels loaded with positive energy and vibrancy. In witnessing it, you take on those uplifting feelings, as well as that shared understanding – that no one gets out of here without experiencing pain in some shape or form.
Movin On is a stunning piece of music, just over four minutes of artistic expression and precise soundscape evolution. The opening moments lay out a Santana-like scene, a simple finger-picked riff backs up a soulfully meandering electric guitar part. Then a dash of symbols prepare you for the incoming drum-line, that organic and hard-hitting rhythm – which, in turn, changes the way the lead guitar sounds. The performance becomes more confident, louder, more intense and energizing. To listen throughout this progression and simultaneously consider the stages we go through when experiencing loss is to appreciate how well connected this music is to that very concept. The title and indeed everything about the song – the later vocal melodies and lyrics, another unexpected change – it all feeds into this underlying sentiment.
Loss is inevitable, sure, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. It has to be dealt with, it has to be felt, and we have to keep on working out the ways to make it through. Offering up something as creative and accessible as this song is a thoughtful way to manage and to present a sense of togetherness with everyone else who knows what you’re going through, or who is going through it themselves. Greatly appreciated.
Download the single via Bandcamp. Find & follow T.S. Monaghan on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
