LOS ANGELES, CA- I’ll admit it—until now, Mobley wasn’t on my radar. So take this with a grain of salt: “Yesterday’s Another Day” might’ve been my first taste of the Austin-based artist’s sound, but it hit hard enough to make me comb through his discography like I’d been missing out on a secret.
His new single, which arrives ahead of the concept-driven LP We Do Not Fear Ruins (out April 23 via Last Gang Records), is a honey-glazed slice of retro-soul, dressed in psychedelic textures and underpinned by an impossibly smooth bassline. The moment it started, I found myself thrown back to mid-’70s Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye—except with a shimmer of something more futuristic and more cinematic.
“Yesterday’s Another Day” feels timeless. Built around Mobley’s airy falsetto and a groove that practically glides, it’s one of those songs that just makes you feel good. It’s warm, it’s soulful, and it pulses with a quiet confidence that suggests an artist who knows exactly what he’s doing.
But as a newcomer, diving into the rest of Mobley’s recent catalog was a bit of a whiplash. “Had To Be There,” for example, leans more pop-rock forward—slickly produced and undeniably catchy, but a little out of step with the intimacy of “Yesterday’s Another Day.” “No Exit” is bold and bursting with ideas, but felt a touch chaotic for my tastes, especially when the Latin influences kicked in. And yet, “Y’r Ghost” landed more in the emotional pocket for me—soulful and deliberate, it reaffirmed the first impression that Mobley’s best work is rooted in feeling rather than flair… at least in the beginning, until it morphed into a frenetic jam, something wholly different than what was initially established.
Still, it’s clear this artist doesn’t stay in one lane for long—and maybe that’s the point.
We Do Not Fear Ruins promises a high-concept journey across time, told through the lens of Jacob Creedmoor, a cryogenically frozen freedom fighter who awakens 300 years in the future. This is apparently the next chapter in a saga Mobley introduced in 2022’s Cry Havoc! But “Yesterday’s Another Day,” with its slick vintage visuals (filmed on a 1981 Sony Trinicon camera) and tender lyrics about love and time’s passage, offers a welcoming on-ramp into Mobley’s narrative universe.
There’s something refreshing about an artist who’s so fully committed to their own mythology, yet still capable of delivering a song that hits like a forgotten classic on your parents’ record player. “Yesterday’s Another Day” is rich in tone, heartfelt in message, and a brilliant entry point for the uninitiated who hold that style of soul music close to the heart—like me.
And while some of the other tracks may not have landed quite as firmly on first listen, I’ll be keeping an ear out for the full album when it drops. If this is what Mobley has in store, then I’m genuinely curious to hear where the story—and sound—goes next.
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