"I've been a drunk, a lover, occasional liar, sweetheart, asshole, unemployed troublemaker, raconteur, bon vivant, wannabe Teddy boy, wannabe Bob Dylan, and on occasion a pretty goddamned good boyfriend." That's Louisiana singer/songwriter Rex Moroux's self-assessment, offered not as lyrics in a confessional tune -- though the sentence does take on a sweet little rhythm -- but in answer to a question regarding what jobs he held before embarking on his music career.
Rex Moroux, started composing songs while living in Los Angeles, where he'd gone in 2000 to write for a playhouse after attending Loyola in New Orleans and the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. He'd already written a play and wound up doing some pieces for actors' workshops, but once he discovered songwriting, he knew he had found what he wanted to do.
"It's such a beautiful, simple, and wonderfully enlightening form," Moroux explains. "I view songs as immortal; they are on the wind, they can't be burned or banned. I grew up in the heart of Cajun Louisiana, so it always seemed like music was in the air. It usually was, but even when it was silent, someone was crying. I think that's what it comes down to. People who write honest songs are criers."
Since then Rex has been doing nothing but writing and singing, devoting himself to developing his art and his 3 studio albums: 105 and Lullaby, Royal Street Inn, and his newest release, These Bricks Are Bleeding.
Produced and recorded in Brooklyn, NY by Roger Greenawalt (Julian Velard, The Pierces, Ben Kweller), These Bricks Are Bleeding is Moroux's gutsiest creation yet.
With songs like the beautifully haunting and sometimes even disturbing, "I Saw Your Ghost" and the joyous sing-a-long drinking song "East London Waltz", you get the feeling Moroux can relate to almost anyone. And "Whatcha Doin' Downtown" -- which even has a hint of Bowie peeking through -- will get your foot tapping in no time.
Moving seamlessly from Americana to pop-rock to rockabilly and back again, These Bricks Are Bleeding still proves that Moroux is undoubtedly a songwriter first and foremost. With each different twist and unique style on the record, the words remain a true testament to his skills with pen and paper.
"If a song can make you cry or laugh, that's a measure of how it touches your soul," says Moroux. There's no question that his songs have the ability to do both. When you're from a place where the music is literally written on the wind, you can't help but let it blow through you. For Rex Moroux, that beats out AC any day.
