So you only need to browse a bit over on this site to know I’m a bit of a Steve Moore fanboy. Zombi, solo work, score work, and even his series of covers he did as Zombi and Friends over the course of 2020 and 2021 were nothing short of brilliant. It wasn’t until recently I went down the Lovelock rabbit hole and my love for this musical wizard grew even more.
What is Lovelock? It’s a side project of Moore’s that he started way back in the 2000’s. A project that zeroes in heavily on Giorgio Moroder, Alan Parsons Project, and Nile Rodgers vibes. Cosmic disco with pop-centric melodies. Between 2006 and 2008 Moore recorded the tracks that would make up Lovelock’s debut release Burning Feeling. Burning Feeling was originally released on Internasjonal in 2012, but now it’s getting new life on a fantastic 2-LP release with Be With Records.
Over the course of 4 sides of hot molten wax we take a journey through the sweaty club scene of London, Paris, and New York via 1979, or 2022 if you like. These kinds of groove-heavy tracks live out of time. They aren’t dated, as Moore produced these dance tracks to live on, moving generation after generation to lose themselves in these gorgeous soundscapes.
As I type this there is a brand new Lovelock album living and breathing in the world. Someone was released on April 30th, 2022. I’m here to tell you it is absolutely essential listening. Not only that, but there’s two tracks with vocals by none other than Dan Stevens. The Guest Dan Stevens. Downton Abbey Dan Stevens. Legion Dan Stevens. And he is absolute fire. But right now I think you should begin the journey where it began, with Burning Feeling.
Lovelock owns a certain space of pop music real estate, and that space lies somewhere between 1978 and 1982. Those sleek dance floor tracks that belonged in the dark, technicolor-lighted clubs of big city night life. But somehow they made their way onto regional pop radio. Sexy and sleek, they soundtracked both hedonistic club life and the car ride into town to pick up groceries. This is the world of Burning Feeling.
I’m listening to “Don’t Turn Away(From My Love)” and it has the sleek rhythm of Alan Parsons Project’s “I Wouldn’t Want To be Like You” slowed down and sexed up a bit for good measure. Steve Moore gives the proceedings just enough cosmic delights to remind you who you’re listening to(Lovelock, dammit.) Or what about “Maybe Tonight”, possibly my favorite track here. Disco rhythm, synth bass, and just enough melodic shifts to give it an almost melancholy sway. Vocally this track is near perfect. Moore offers up a perfectly nondescript lead vocal here that could be Kenny Loggins or it could be Robbie Dupree. Point is that its the perfect voice to carry the melody without taking away from the excellent production. It sounds like the kind of track that came on the radio back in the early 80s that you’d keep that dial tuned to and quietly sing along to until Atlanta Rhythm Section came on.
The Moroder vibes are strong on “Love Reaction”, giving us the proper B-side to Donna Summer’s “I Need Love”. Stunning spaced out disco. The lead guitar always adds a touch of sleek 70s rock hedonism for good measure, like Steve Lukather happened to stop by for a few bars in-between Toto recording sessions. And “The Fog”? Absolutely stunning and electro-funk heaven, man. “Deco District”, which closes the album, sits apart as more of a pulsating sonic outlier to what came before. More New Order than Moroder, this closer “locks” into the work Moore did in another side project, Miracle.
I can’t say enough about Lovelock’s debut. If you’d been paying attention from the very beginning(unlike me) you would have seen just how vast and diverse Steve Moore’s sonic reach went. Burning Feeling is an all-out disco banger with nuance, melodic twists and turns, and the perfect balance of dance floor excursions and melodic journey.
Complex Distractions 