| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 9 |
| Interest | 9 |
| Melody | 9 |
| Performance | 9 |
| Lyrics | 8 |
| Enjoyment | 9 |
| Recording Quality | 9 |
| Commercial Appeal | 8 |
| Overall | 8.8 |
Thought this one was gonna be a tough one to review, but I listened to it a few more times and managed to get a handle on how I felt about the track so here goes. I suppose what first strikes you about this pairing is that it shouldn't really work. A deep soulful voice, mixed with challenging jazz/avant-garde chord progressions and whatever else they care to bring to the party. What's equally surprising is that for most of the time the pairing DOES indeed work and work damn well. I suppose if we look through music history we will find similar odd couples. Alison Moyet worked so well with Vince Clark in Yazoo, Dave Stewart with Annie Lennox, so perhaps it's not such a stretch after all. So what's this track all about ? Looking at the lyrics it appears to be about detachment and literal alienation. Deep stuff. Occasionally the lyrics are all a little overt, but I can forgive this when they are carried by such a strong voice. Ahh the voice, slightly reminiscent of Tracey Thorn (everything but the girl), but actually stronger if anything. Confident, never strident, rich, an instrument you can build a track on. Confident enough to try harmonies I wouldn't even dare to try.
Musically the track is very unique, a well scored drum pattern, always evolving, plenty of variation, a deep sub bass that's never intrusive, a full string pad, always on the move. What appears to be a jazzy piano arrangement that again is never intrusive but beautifully played, and a strange radio interference that runs through the track, seeming to again suggest alienation, but is too well constructed to be random. Heady stuff for a song indeed. Can't fault the recording either, I detected no jarring errors in the arrangement, and the vocals were never less than perfect (and I really listened hard lol)
So the million dollar questions, is the track commercial. Hard question indeed. Do I see it charting (I mean nationwide not on here), no not really, tell me last trip house jazz song you saw in the charts. Does that cheapen the song ? Damn no, some of my favourite tracks never had a sniff at the charts, does that devalue them, no way. An album track people will remember and come back to ? Definitely, this is where I see the track. Would I buy ? Show me the album it's on then ask me again :)
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