I Am the Moon: IV. Farewell is the fourth and final installment in
Tedeschi Trucks Band's 2022 bimonthly summer releases inspired by the epic 12th century Persian love poem The Story of Layla and Majnun by Nizami Ganjavi. Each volume is accompanied by its own film from director
Alix Lambert. (The poem also provided inspiration for
Derek and the Dominos' 1970 double album
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.) Five of
TTB's 12 members collaborated in the songwriting.
Farewell's six songs are the most intimate in the series. It underscores the existential question at the heart of the poem's tragic narrative: Are we really just in love with the dream of love rather than what love demands? Opener "Last Night in the Rain" weds punchy guitars, sweeping soulful horns, and a soaring backing chorus;
Susan Tedeschi delivers a brokenhearted vocal: "Got a letter from nowhere/Got a letter from you/It was already opened/Addressed to somebody new." "Soul Sweet Song" starts with rumbling congas,
Gabe Dixon's piano, and
Derek Trucks' slide guitar.
Tedeschi and
Mike Mattison sing in resonant harmony about how the spirits of the dead leave indelible marks on those who remain, as lithe horns frame them. "D'Gary" is titled after the stage name of acoustic guitarist
Ernest Randrianasolo (aka
D'Gary) from Madagascar.
Trucks employs a version of his uncommonly rhythmic playing style in the melody.
Tedeschi, framed by the guitar and supported by
Dixon's Rhodes piano, digs deep into the ache of separation, loss, and grief, as ambient horns and percussion underscore each line: "Up the creek without a paddle/Down the street without a name/Lying eyes are wicked/I will never be the same/Loneliness is hollow...Tired bones lay dying/As it all goes down the drain."
Mattison's lead vocal on "Where Are My Friends?" offers a rootsy Americana ballad as he trades poignant sung lines with biting slide fills from
Trucks and a backing chorus led by
Tedeschi. His lyrics reflect the depths of the poem's narrative while also admonishing us for complicity in our loneliness. "I Can Feel You Smiling" is a ballad with gorgeous acoustic and slide guitar interplay from
Trucks as
Dixon's B-3 adds depth and dimension to
Tedeschi's throaty, country-soul vocal. The cycle is brought to a close on the passionate, anthemic "Another Day." Led by
Trucks' slide and
Mattison's acoustic guitar,
Dixon's keyboards introduce
Tedeschi's voice amid horns and drummers shuffling underneath. Her strident lyric, amplified by a backing chorus, depicts the power of love from beyond the bounds of human existence.
The four volumes that make up I Am the Moon offer an uncommon achievement in popular music. While lyric themes don't strictly adhere to the poem, they do offer pointed, wonderfully allegorical and metaphorical illustrations of the most universal of its tenets in 24 intricately linked songs. This ambitious, literary, and musically rich presentation is as illuminating spiritually and emotionally as it is wildly satisfying. ~ Thom Jurek
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