Illumination Road are a four-piece rock band from California, and they released their single "The Modern World," last week, and I love it. It's a great infusion of styles - blues rock, folk, rock 'n roll, and more as the band are influenced by Bob Dylan & The Beatles, which makes for a tune very retro and reminiscent of music from decades ago. Illumination Road consist of members Chris Ayden (lead vocals, guitar), Chad Shlosser (guitar, bass), Greg Cahill (guitar, mandolin, piano), and Michael Johnson (drums). Together they are a extremely skilled bunch of people — Chad and Michael both are producers, Chad is also an engineer, Chris, a songwriter, and Greg is a multi-instrumentalist. Illumination Road are a collective of artists who came together to create music, on a 140-acre ranch in the historic Pioneertown of the quiet mountains of the California high-desert.
“The Modern World" is a track that is a crying out — one about wanting to be here, on this Earth, when we finally reach a new world, one that is peaceful and not overrun by pollution and war. It is a song to blast down the highway in the middle of a humid summer evening, right as the sun is setting. One to listen to when life gets to be too hard, too painful, too much. It's challenging right now to feel optimistic about this world with so much going on, notably the biggest right now being the pandemic, and I interpret this song to be the frustration about the pandemic expressed in a musical format. It makes for cathartic listening, a reminder that if you're struggling with handling and processing all of today's happenings, all of its horrors and downfalls, you are not alone. Many others feel similar feelings of fear and frustration as you.
But there's hope — just like you are not alone in your worries, you're not alone in your wins. You have a friend to be by your side in this current darkness, and you will have a friend in the future lightness, "This Modern World," reassures you of that.
I love this track. It's a rock song that blends classic and new rock styles wonderfully and touches a very real, emotional viewpoint that so many of us are feeling right now. It's a necessary song, a letter to the listener about fears, frustration, and a want, a hope for peace.
Illumination Road are set to release more singles this Spring, along with music videos to complement them.