As the lyrics depict conflicting actions and feelings of a cyclical love-hate relationship, a steady descending guitar riff steps down, catches itself and jumps back up with each phrase. The track overall feels slightly pared back yet clarified compared to their previous work, more sonically grounded than their spacy 2023 hit, ‘Sofa King’.
The vocals remain distanced, layered harmonies slightly obscuring the lyrics to create that dreamy effect, but the repeated earworm of a chorus and delicately sung verses feel intimate, hinting at the repetitive parts each party plays in the relationship.
The visualiser released with the track feels markedly different to this image of a grumbling girlfriend always looking to pick a fight. A woman lays calmly on a grass lawn in the incessant spray of a lawn sprinkler whilst she nonchalantly turns the pages of a worn book and swings her legs in the air. She sports a soaked white dress and bare feet, below a clothes line of pastel coloured camisoles and underwear. The image is blue tinted, slightly hazy - a truly voyeuristic, idealised image of a woman - the woman who is “more than I want”. The result is a strong, summery emphasis - a song for fading away warm August evenings, and a re-emphasis of the duality of the relationship - the tranquility of being “more than I want” whilst full of accusations and death threats.
The relaxed singing style adds a humour to the otherwise weighty lyrics, suggesting a certain ease to the emotional sparring between the singer and their “moody” partner. But beyond the lyrical story, it’s the connection between Royel Maddell’s soft-spoken guitar and Otis Pavlovic’s androgynous, dreamy vocals that shines through.
‘moody’ is an exciting step in the Royel Otis oeuvre, introducing us to a cooler, even more refined sound. In a sea of self-declared “songs of the summer,” Royel Otis make a convincing case for the real thing: warm, languid, and effortlessly cool, and with a tour across America and Europe on the horizon, there’s never been a better time to slip into a white summer dress and get moody in person!
Teagan Booker
Image: 'moody' Official Single Cover
