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- 😄 chris pureka / hangman review
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this weeks review is brought to you by a friend i was hanging out with at the pub the other day who was like i love 5 artists and 5 artists only, this is one of them and it’s an indie folk singer from portland w 15k monthly listeners who hasn’t released anything for 10 years. so, of course i plugged that in, turned it up and ho boy. it’s a banger everyone. melancholic and sad, has some great texture work and singing, it’s all here baby. buckle up and get listening to chris pureka and his song hangman, ideally do what i was told to do (but didn’t and do wish i had) which is lock that up in the ol earphones, get walking down the street ideally w a big of rain, and have yourself a cathartic lil time. then when you’re done, get back here and let’s a go.
without even realising it, this song took me off on one. the way it gently builds itself up like a snake rolling it’s head up by actuating each vertibrae in it’s spine all while keeping a level head is fluid and smooth, and catches you off guard. it’s not something that does anything with any degree of drama, but before you know it you’re up on something big and heavy and important and goddamn. it’s little elements like the laxidasical kick drum thurmming along in the background, the hypnotic guitar riffs utterly refusing to innovate anything other than the main melody, lowering you in like eye contact that won’t quit.
the slow introduction of more and more melodic elements, especailly every drawl of that fiddle, ramp this up beautifully. what it does then, having got you up on this great height of a bridge section, is let’s you down gently with a long outro of this singers great performance. which brings me to another thing! this performance, oh man. a thing i go on and on about is always about personality in vocal work. i will take any day of the week a less well exectued vocal performance, technically speaking, that delivered more of a singers personality and real voice over someone who can deliver perfect tone and pitch any day of the week. that said, i don’t need to choose here at all. this singer is hitting both, and the strain in the voice ever so slightly sounding like it’s going to give out in the chorus, right on that word ‘hangman’. it’s sooooo good.
i feel like this song has a lot of great stuff, and it goes to some really powerful places, and while i loved the performance, i never felt in danger, i never felt like this song was going to overtly challenge me on a really fundamental level. and i think a part of that is the gentle production, which largely lacks any kind of real grit or aggression. it’s great for establishing the energy and vibe and moving from a place of quiet respect to something a bit more, but it never quite takes that step up into an absolute apex. it’s kind of like climbing to everest base camp and then not doing the rest, you’re really up there, but nothing topping it off. i think a lil lyrical moment, a solo, a break or a build or something at the very top of that main bridge would’ve sent this song flying.
i absolutely love walking in the rain. hood up? tunes on? yessir, we are going walking. especailly when it’s like, just a little bit dark and getting darker, not so dark you can’t see or anything, but dark enough you know it’s going to be dark in a bit.
this song really does it for me like one other artist i haven’t thought about or talked about in ages, but they do really get those bones a tingling, and that’s jordaan mason. the pained vocals, the massive emotional moments, the acoustic stripped back afair? it’s all there baby.
i’ve really been enjoying this artist. i can definitely see why they’re in my friends 5 artists they listen to. i picked this song because it’s their biggest track and also it’s really really good, but honestly i could’ve picked any of their songs to feature here because there’s some really great ones going on in there. if they start releasing again i will be seated, ready and waiting. yessiree.
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more i’ve been listening to
won’t lie to you, this beef has been some top tier activity to watch from afar not knowing much about it, but also, the songs kendrick has been dropping are soooooo good. this one tho? oh man. it’s nuts.
if you’re a singer, and you can do vocal riffs like this, then you and i need to hang out because you are so cool as is this song. damn.
when this song hits you with that big riff, you’ll know it when you hear it, it puts you right in that main character moment. i’ve got a spring in my step now, yessir.
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