Walk The Moon Light As Air Grooving With "Shut Up and Dance"

Thank you patient and somewhat less patient blog followers for indulging me in a week's spell of R & R in Portland, Oregon. Twas a blast. I'm fully loaded and ready to launch into a look, listen, sniff, whatever...at Cincinnati act Walk The Moon's agreeable toe tapper "Shut Up and Dance. Let's jazz up the spirit of my posts, shall we? I'll compare some singular moments I experienced in Portland with the off the charts fascinating pleasures you'll get listening to "Shut Up and Dance". One leg of yours truly's perplex the northwest tour involved face time at the legendary Voodoo Donuts (nope, not paying me to plug them. I'd grease their collective egos for free any day). The dance heavy poundings of "Shut and Up Dance" have been choreographed specifically to hypnotize you as Voodoo Donuts can. Tried the voodoo doll itself. Chocolate plus raspberry amounts to I'm glad my metabolism hasn't set sail for oblivion. "Shut Up and Dance" plus lead vocalist Nicholas Petricca equals a splendid fun go of things that's bound to keep your fiesta going full tilt until everyone passes out from the accumulated exhaustion. "Anna Sun", the band's 2011 foray into legendary status was a riot from the word go. Whoever put together its accompanying video wasn't paid nearly enough for his attention to shining a bright light on every shame deprived frame of goofiness that was captured on film. Nicky had already shown his way around dance rock hilarity was at the master class level. "Shut Up and Dance" paints contagious peak hour celebration poses designed to fill each threadbare cranny. They go by the numbers in a mainstream direction more than "Anna Sun" did but the joy is no less easy to reach out and hug like the big, dumb, lug it claims it wants to be. Guitarist Eli Maiman gets freed from the porch steps on this effort and you can tell the difference. On "Anna Sun" he was the glue connecting Nicholas' poetic phrasings. Bathed in instrument friendly shades of strobe here, he gets a healthier swath of the spotlight. Sean Waugaman keeps the beat, gives it marching orders, and then holds on tight for the payoff he's convinced is coming his way. Kevin Ray's bass assures the assuring glow embedded in this string of moments doesn't veer too far off track. The critic's choice pick for best lyrics from this song have to be "A backless dress and some beat up sneaks, my discotheque Juliet teenage dream." Not since DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince gave sneaks an honorable mention in "Summertime" has that footwear gotten such lovingly propped up billing. I'm swayed by the concrete imagery. What makes reading a better choice than TV in the leisure department is books force you to use your imagination instead of having a cadre of crack writers color in the lines for you. The words behind "Shut Up and Dance" achieve the same outcome. You can draw the image in your head of a gorgeous woman clad in a backless dress and a somewhat socially awkward young male in beat up sneaks." Beauty and the beast out for a few spins in the featured dance of the night. Portland's downtown courtyard was a beguiling mix of beautiful people across the age spectrum. Turn on "Shut Up and Dance" and you can be one of those beautiful people to cool for the room. Another spot I visited was the tradition minded Salt & Straw ice cream shop. From experience I can conclude that their Oregon Rocky Road is worth getting into a verbal altercation with your dietitian. "Shut Up and Dance" trips across the tongue just as fabulously. Maybe their flavor notes aren't as naughty but the young at heart organs in your body can expect a similar workout. I haven't been familiar with Walk The Moon for too many years but my admiration for their output grows stronger by the hour. If they've made you dance like tomorrow isn't going to occur then they've done an incredible job of writing, performing, and getting matters laid down in the studio. Walk The Moon's insistence that you shut up and dance is delivered proudly with the best of intentions.