Rebelution

Over the past 16 years, Rebelution has had nearly everything a band could ask for: chart-topping albums, hundreds of millions of streams, a GRAMMY nomination, even their own festival in Jamaica. The only thing they haven’t had, it seems, is time.

“When COVID hit, we found ourselves in uncharted territory,” says frontman Eric Rachmany. “Suddenly we were just sitting still, which was a completely new experience for us.”

Difficult as it was to leave the road behind, pressing pause proved to be a blessing in disguise for the band, one that led to their captivating new album, In The Moment. Recorded remotely in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the collection is deliberate and wide-ranging, infusing the quartet’s soulful, exhilarating brand of modern reggae with addictive pop hooks, alt-rock grit, and hip-hop grooves. The performances here are bold and self-assured, and the production is equally ambitious, drawing on swirling reverb and trippy delay to create an immersive sonic universe that’s both futuristic and vintage all at once. Strip away the intoxicating atmospherics, though, and what remains is a work of profound reflection, a probing, revelatory meditation that balances joy and introspection in equal measure as it contemplates the meaning of time and how to spend what precious little of it we have.