Desire…

The Icarus themes are clear and obvious in the cover art for the Desire EP.

Desire is a song by the Vancouver-based electronic duo known as Bob Moses, from their 2020 EP Desire. The song itself is a collaboration with electronic musician ZHU. Desire speaks of the poisoning effect social media has had on relationships. The song especially focuses on how social media makes people project the perfectly perfect image of themselves and only look for the shallow details of a person. According to Bob Moses members Jimmy Vallance and Tom Howie, the song was written as a “love tale of the digital age”, taking heavy influence from the Greek Tale of Icarus. The lyrics, such as “I don’t want your desire, I just want to be free” speak to the need to break free from the obsession with social acceptance and find one’s inner self. The song’s driving trance beat and deep house sensibilities mix well with its lyrics, giving the song an intense, seductive quality.

Why this song is important to me…

This song was my anthem during COVID-19, coming out during the pandemic. It’s one of my all-time favorite songs and was heavily influential on the writing I did during the shutdown. I actually rediscovered my love of writing during the shutdown, listening to Desire as I did so. In that way, Desire by Bob Moses can almost be considered the anthem for my literary reawakening. So, it goes without saying that I love the song and hold it near and dear to my heart.