Stream: The Moth & the Flame, ‘Young & Unafraid’

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The new single from The Moth & the Flame is a roof-rattler the L.A. quartet have been playing in concerts for several months now, “Young & Unafraid.” The band — Utah ex-pats Brandon Robbins (guitars and vocals), Mark Garbett (keyboards and vocals) and Andrew Tolman drums) along with L.A. cohort Michael Goldman on bass — made a mark with their 2013 EP, “&,” and have been working on a full-length album (release details still to be announced) for Elektra. If the sonic breadth of the new single, with its booming rhythms, big swaths of synth and Robbins’ stentorian vocals, isn’t a sure sign TMTF want to play with the alt-rock elite, then the chorus is. In today’s climate, “we are young and unafraid” almost translates to “go big or go home.” The quartet has been working with A-list producers on the new album, and along the way have seen the names of Radiohead, Coldplay, the Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire and Imagine Dragons (the latter mostly because Tolman was a founding member) dropped in various press mentions. On this single, the Moth & the Flame have managed something few current alt-rockers pull off: How to be bombastic but not vacuous.

||| Stream: “Young & Unafraid”

||| Live: The Moth & the Flame open for Big Data on Thursday at the Troubadour. They also play Make Music Pasadena on June 6, and in between they will hold down the Monday night residency (along with Freedom Fry) in May at the Echo.

||| Previously: “Sorry,” “Winsome,” “How We Woke Up,” Bands to Watch 2015

Photo by Marcello Ambriz via Facebook