When Jennah Bell and her back-up singers hit the opening harmony of her new song, “The Moon, The Man,” you can hear the room groan in knowing anticipation. Jennah is usually smooth and cool in her delivery, but in this live setting at New York’s Rockwood Music Hall, the Oakland singer went to that raw and emotional place that gives you goose bumps. Bolstered by lush background vocals and an enthralled audience, Jennah shared what she called “a mantra for sanity” in the wake of heartbreak. Those of us who have known that pain can feel every ounce of it hanging in the balance as she sweeps into a chorus steeped in her signature magical symbolism. You may not grasp the meaning of every lyric, but the emotions speaks volumes.
“You’re like the shortest story ever told…
about the moon, the man, the astronaut, the end…
But I’ll bear no flag to prove that you were ever there.”
