Zoey Tess is not here to whisper but to stand tall and let her voice be heard. Her latest single, ‘Knocking at Your Front Door’, released earlier this month, is an unapologetic, folk-rock rallying cry, setting the stage for her forthcoming debut album, ‘There's Gonna Be a Reckoning’. Born from a stark sense of urgency, the track is Zoey’s way of confronting what she describes as "rising authoritarianism, religious hypocrisy, and deep inequality." As she puts it, "I felt like America needed a revolution, and this was a way of joining the fight."
The song opens with a deceptive calm, just Zoey, her acoustic guitar, and a stark grunge atmosphere. Her vocals steady as she circles the decay of a nation coming apart at the seams. It feels initially like a lament, a weary confession, but that mood quickly shatters when the band explodes into life, delivering steady, rising drums, a snarl from the guitars, and a bassline that ties the whole revolution together.
What starts as a protest song with a nod to the spirit of the sixties and seventies quickly becomes a modern, full-throated challenge. The track wastes no time mincing words, delivering a gut-punch lyrics that take well-aimed shots at a certain US politician: “Well, something’s really mad about a rapist / With his one hand on a young girl’s body / The other’s bound to bomb a country.”
The sound is as vital as the message. Recorded at the legendary Clubhouse Studio in Rhinebeck, New York, the track possesses that unmistakable analogue warmth. Working with producer Spencer Hattendorf, Zoey teamed up with a brilliant group of players: Teddy Kumpel on guitar, Reed Sutherland on bass, and Nate Mondschein on drums, with Clubhouse owner Paul Antonell engineering the session. The final product was polished by music royalty; Grammy-winning mixing engineer Mario J. McNulty gave the track a beautiful freedom, allowing Zoey’s fierce vocals to rise and fall against the rhythm. Mastering engineer Dave McNair then sealed the deal, ensuring the song’s raw power and clarity punch through the speakers.
Where ‘Knocking at Your Front Door’ truly succeeds is in bridging the gap between delicate folk confession and rock-and-roll fire. It breathes new danger into protest music, making outrage feel anything but mundane. As she says, the song is "more than simply a body of work, it's the ringing of revolution." We should all be listening to the sound on our doorstep.
For more from Zoey, and to join her on the road to ‘There's Gonna Be a Reckoning’, make sure you check out her website or connect on Instagram, Facebook, and Bandcamp.
