Mokita, or John-Luke Carter, released his latest track “Down” today. Beautifully integrated with classical piano and modern mixing, “Down” is a powerful serenade we can all relate to in these remarkably trying times.
A soft, melancholic piano opens “Down” playing very simple chord patterns to balance out the poignant vocals. It’s the sort of melody that could escape behind the door of an abandoned music room at just the moment you need to hear it. “2am stuck again/don’t know how to feel/ burning through the summer blues/you wanna fight, but you don’t know how…” go these early lyrics, which feel all too current.
But the bridge, which repeats the word “down” on and on, uses it not in a negative way. Instead, it’s about how the singer “won’t let you down, down, down.” This compliments a resounding chorus, powered by skillful synth on its second appearance, that insists “You’re gonna make it out/You’re gonna fly/ You’re gonna show them all how brave you are.” The musical arrangement makes the repetition of both chorus and bridge extremely powerful, building a musical journey from the acknowledgement of the difficult situation we are in now to a message of collaboration and hope.
In the past, Mokita has been very open with his own struggles in his mental health and he has brought light to this and other often taboo subjects through his songwriting. Unsurprisingly, he seems to have tackled the difficulty of modern-day life and the struggles for social justice perfectly.
Mokita’s debut EP 4201 dropped in 2019 and since then he’s acquired 2.2M monthly listeners on Spotify. In addition to writing his own music, he has produced remixes for Maggie Rogers and Daya, and co-written tracks for Zac Brown Band, Ella Vos, and Loote, among others. This seems like the tip of the iceberg as “Down” promises insightful songwriting from him in the future.
“Down” is a hypnotic, relatable track that says everything you’re feeling right now.
Follow Mokita on Spotify.
Saint Audio 