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genre: hip hop / pop
release date: 30/10/23
runtime: 3:18
video: no :(

well, we are now in february, and you know what? i’ve done it again, that’s right, absolutely smashed it by going ahead and finding another b a n g e r for you all. this one took me a spin to get into, but actually i’m now properly singing along to this song, it’s actually so good. it’s a hip hop but honestly more pop-y ballad by an artist caleld rvre who is very cool on two counts, one, wrote this song still which rules, but also is a subscriber of this here newsletter and submitted this track! that’s right, you heard it here first, don’t forget it. now, let’s get cracking.

click the picture up above to give it a listen!

what i liked! :)

the elephant in the room of this track is of course the vocal performance, but we’ll get to that in a second because first things first i want to take a second and talk about the instrumentation. it’s very, very, very well done in this song. the gentle sprinkling of synths dancing around the edges of a truly massive percussion set up that doesn’t let up for a second produces a feeling of melancholy that pounds with the kind of fire this song knows how to handle. the additional elements like the arpeggiated guitar or bass line serve to just keep this song driving forward and forward. it doesn’t do so oppressively, or bombastically but it’s still a song that you can’t help but feel tension and a sense of trapped energy within. now, that out the way let’s talk about the vocal for this song because it’s killer. the very gentle application of vibrato praticularly in the choruses is one of those vocal touches i’ve always loved when singers pull off, especially on the word two. the additional treatment of the vocal is really well done in this, giving enough to produce a stylistic idea but not enough to drown out the aching performance that bleeds through in so many of the sections in this song.

what i didn’t like :(

one thing i will say about this song, is it doesn’t make much use of structure to it’s strength. the choruses and verses blend together almost entirely, being seperated only by the vocal. there really isn’t any kind of bridge or middle 8 and i tihnk that’s a really missed opportunitiy. i think that’s especially in light of the really powerful and pounding set up, i think a moment about half way through or so where that beat had been pulled back, giving space for that vocal to really kill a particular lyric before bringing it back in would’ve made this song absolutely top tier.

my drunk opinion :S

i really miss driving, this is such a killer driving with the windows down and speakers blasting song. like a night time drive, on the motorway w nobody about? yeah, this is the one right here. it probably doesn’t hit the same on the train i won’t lie.

for fans of

i have a slightly odd comparison for this one, but on my first listen i immediately was like oh! tha’ts that same vocal technique from this one song, i haven’t heard someone else doing that in ages, it’s one of my favourite things for a vocalist to do it rules, and that is king by years and years, again it has that warble on the main chorus line that produces that sound of someone being somehow both timid and confident, it’s mad.

should you listen to more?

i really really like this artist, i think they’ve got a lot of great stuff going on and i think you’re going to like them to. the vocals in particular have some moments of real brilliance. the only thing i would say, is a lot of the songs are pretty mid tempo ballad esque, which if you’re in the mood for really hits the spot, but that’s where a lot of this goes so if you’re not in that headspace, maybe not the one?

or better yet, reply to this email! what did you think of this song? have you been listening to anything good lately? any gems i’ve missed?

more i’ve been listening to

quick heads up, currently working on getting playlsits on apple music as it’s been requested, but it’s proven a little trickier than i thought, so i shall keep going and hopefully crack it real soon! in the meantime, sorry to the people who’ve been asking my b D:

lo moon / evidence

it’s so hard to do a big ol build on a song, like starts super chill and then gets going and going, but this one does it so well it almost makes me feel bad for other songs that try.

palehound / independance day

just a really sweet song 🙂 like a really sweet, cool, interesting, fun song, that i really liked and listened to like 6 times and i think you will too

ggwendolyn / my year of rest and relaxation

right, i’ve got a bone to pick with this one, so. story time here and i’m gonna go off on one here so pull up a chair. so, that book, that’s called the same thing, i bought it for my ex for christmas along with a few other bits, a real bitty present you know? but, they loved books, loved reading and writing and that so thought oh! my year of rest and relaxation, i’ve heard that’s really good bet that’ll go down well. wrong. hated it, absolutely slated it, couldn’t stand it and was like you need to read it. then we broke up, so i read it kind of out of spite, and i thought it was hilarious, like i can see why they didn’t like the main character but that’s the whole point? the main character is unlikeable, that’s the idea, she’s a bad person and this is her tale of just like not dealing with that and doing all the things she does instead, it’s deranged. anyway, literally a year later guess who’s getting all weepy and melancholy and maybe a little extremely drunk? that’s right, me, and who decides to stalk their ex a lil as a treat? me again, terribly embarressing, we’ve all done it i hope, but then!!! guess! what said ex! is tweeting about! a year later! that same fucking book and how much they hate it!! so who won there in the end? clearly neither of us, but this song reminded me of that whole story, and i felt the compulsive need to write it all out for you because it is kind of funny in a way i think, so you’re welcome. the songs fine, by the way.

or just reply to this email! what did you think? what would you change? how are you?

that’s all from us in this edition! next edition next tuesday uk time :)