BmoreArt

Most artists are told to use their voice to communicate their beliefs. It’s how we create community and maintain connections. It’s how we express humanity and humility. Over the years the phrase somewhat transformed into “use your platform” as social media ushered in a new language and means of connection. But how does someone make a politically fueled piece that is also enjoyable and digestible?

This can sometimes be a slippery slope for artists because the line between preachy and corny is very fine. The first track on the album Wood wrote was ‘Don’t Wanna Go Back.’ The mid tempo groove creates a gravitational pull with its hazy synths and kick drum. “You don’t know, you don’t know what you’re feeling. You don’t know, you don’t know what you’re seeing…” Wood sings, displaying hints of post punk an additional genre that influenced the album.

Wood maintains he didn’t write the song to be political. Yet the song speaks against getting stuck in complacency, a feeling that is often recognized by many as a result of hustle culture. Songs with similar messaging are sprinkled throughout the album, exhibiting how trivial thoughts we hold are covertly supported in society to strengthen capitalism.

Wood is inspired by Heaven 17’s “We Don’t Need No Fascist Groove Thang” and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” His decision to borrow some signature production styling alluding to “Good Morning” from Kayne West, however, may come as more of a surprise to those unfamiliar with West’s early intensely left-leaning social and political undertones—a far cry from the rapper/producer/businessman’s current public persona. “I was just generally mad at billionaires, wealth inequity, and systemic issues,” Wood says. The sentiment is easy to recognize in lyrics like “Every step forward, two steps back, good ideas you gotta retract, sick twisted dinosaurs, massive waste of resources” in the album’s titular single (featuring Eze Jackson).

When asked about how Wood landed on Jackson as the feature he said “I thought about Eze saying he canvased for Obama in ‘08 and then the context of him in the Infinity Knives world,” referencing Jackson’s feature on the Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals track “Soft Pack Shorty,” also featuring Dale Rath, “We’re saying it straight up, very much like punk.”

Genre plays a huge influence on music outside of just its sonics. This can be expressed in how a song is approached, the length, or the lyrical content. The decision of how little or much to say is as important as the style in which the lyrics are constructed. Country music is known for its story telling through imaginative but concrete and direct lyrics, similar to rock. Whereas pop music may approach certain conversations in a more playful and covert manner, leaving more ambiguity.

Wood wanted to be direct in this album. “There definitely are more aggressive takes that were cut out, and takes that were too vague. I wanna be clear, that’s important, because people lean into ambiguity a lot,” he shares.

Saying something is half the battle, doing something or to quote the age old phrase “putting your money where your mouth is,” is the other half. Wood carries this mindset throughout the album. N A E, a soulful indie singer and songwriter is his only other forward facing feature on You, Me, The Reign. She displays her writing and vocal ability on the track “Mesmerized.”

“We wrote that song collaboratively but the more we wrote, and the more I heard her sing it, I was like, you got this,” he says. “It was originally a duet and I just kept replacing myself with her because it just hit better. It’s what the song needed.”

Another definition of “what the song needed” comes in the form of Eyas. Lending her background vocals to seven out of the nine songs on the album, she’s easily the icing on the cake or as Wood says, “The sweet to my sour, but now she’s more like garnish.” From the early notes on “Melted Away” to the smooth harmonies on “Hojicha” you may have missed on your first listen, Eyas’ vocals make an imprint on how you experience this album. “In moments where I’m not fully singing, or are less sing-a-long moments, she’s the hook that catches you,” Wood says.

Being an artist, it’s very easy to be egotistical and controlling of your work, especially in a world that subtly tells you to do it all alone and take all the credit. We often hear that we don’t need others and to distance ourselves from anything that challenges our way of thinking. One way to combat that is collaboration—another of this album elements that may not seem politically-driven or like much of an act of resistance—but very much is. Casting his net wide across Baltimore with powerhouse musicians like notcharles, Modern Nomad, and Glorian, Wood stands firmly in his beliefs of equity, equality, and sustainability all while making you reminisce on love and tap your foot while doing so.

Baltimore is a city of wonder where magical things can happen on a random street corner, at any time of the day, on any day of the week. The streets are decorated with inspiration, acts of resistance, familiar graffiti tags, and artists who go out of their way to make sure the city that they love and that has inspired them remains a safe haven for other artists and individuals who often long for the same feelings.

“I want people to listen to the album and their reaction to be how to find joy through frustration,” Wood says.

When talking about the closing track “Hojicha” Wood describes a feeling the song evokes—an appropriate metaphor for life right now. “It makes me think of the silly proverb ‘the beautiful sunset in a Walmart parking lot’ like you’ve just been in a fluorescent space. But then you go outside and see a beautiful sunset and remember, wow, this world is worth fighting for.”

Micah E Wood’s new album You, Me, The Reign is available to purchase on Bandcamp  or stream on Spotify and Apple Music 

Wood will be performing Saturday, Nov. 8 at the Peabody Heights Brewery Anniversary Party