Ron Moor
May 2019. Ultra-Catholic students perpetrate homophobic acts in the heart of La Roche-sur-Yon. It was on this ground of intolerance that Upside Down, Ron Moor’s third album, was born.
Wishing to maintain total artistic independence, it only took Ron Moor a few months to compose, write, record and mix, all at home, this new opus of twelve titles decidedly more engaged and more powerful than its predecessors.
Far from falling into primary anti-clericalism, Upside Down nonetheless paints a gloomy portrait of a society in distress, beset by religious and political extremism. In this concept album, Ron Moor intelligently draws on his Judeo-Christian roots to deliver a message of respect and tolerance.
After two critically acclaimed albums (Starshine in 2013 and Youth in 2018), Ron Moor delivers with Upside Down a clever mix of hard rock, polished melodies and uneasy ambient music, affirming even more his influences: Alter Bridge, Nine Inch Nails, Tool or even Placebo.
Throughout Upside Down, Ron Moor proves that a rock album can, in addition to being sonically powerful, reveal strong emotions and demonstrate intelligence, whether in lyrics, music and even whole concept.
Alternating powerful rock titles with unstoppable choruses (Gethsemane, Daymoon, Ultraviolence, Happiness), moving electronic songs (For This, Octavia, Sorry Now, The Best Ever Enemies) and artistic experiments resulting from his doctoral research in Aramaic and stochastic music (Sons Of God, Ave Maria, Resilience), Ron Moor offers us a complete work that is sometimes confusing, but always honest and authentic.
Very far from the current clichés of mainstream music, although very effective, very far from the blandness of recent texts, very far from the artistic conformism of the 2020s, Upside Down stands out as an Unidentified Musical Object, both disturbing, intriguing and personal. Ron Mooor is part of the lineage of committed, self-confident songwriters who reflect their time with this album.
Uncompromising, authentic and liberated, Upside Down is undoubtedly Ron Moor’s most accomplished album, both in substance and in form. An entire work of a complete and multidisciplinary artist. An album to listen to. Attentively. Definitely.
