I should preface this whole post by first explaining that I didn't really love this song the first few times I heard it. That being said, when a talented artist like L.A. based producer, Le Youth, comes up with a fresh take, you have to give it time and let it grow. I decided to be patient and I'm really glad I did. First, I wasn't crazy about the original selection; I felt (at first glance) that the original was a little too basic to fulfill the demanding musical interpretation we've come to expect from Le Youth. What I mean by this is that 2/3 of the original is mostly a repetitive verse that bases on simply amplifying the weight of the piano. That being said, after a few more listens, you realize that this dynamic change and the subtle addition of brass instruments towards the final third of the track actually does an admirable job of building to the climax. There, you finally get the confluence of all the brass instrumentation, coupled with the powerful piano chords playing in the off-beats, which serves to really fill out the track. You begin to realize that what may have come off as simplistic in the beginning, morphs into something really intriguing.
This is the landscape that Le Youth has to work with, and he delivers, per usual. Similar to the original, we start very simply: a repeating piano chord and vocal, nothing more for the first 30 seconds of the song. At first listen, it sounds bland, maybe even a time-wasting ploy; what is really happening, however, is that Le Youth is simply building a story. Eventually, he moves to a very effective looping sample Jess Glynne's vocal, adding a rhythmic element to be coupled with the truly inspired epic-rock piano line. By minute 2, this song is practically unidentifiable from the first 30 seconds, incorporating elements of future pop and traditional Euro House. But CasaSwoop, I thought you hated labelling music by genre?? What the fuck?? Well, curious reader, what I mean is that there are some musical strategies that are indicative of these styles. You can see the Euro House influence in the build up to the chorus at 2:20, the vocal loop matches the increasing tempo of the percussion, might seem simple, but it's a great method to build the climax. And about that climax (here's the future pop), notice how when the beat finally drops, it doesn't come in on the first beat of the measure, but rather on the off-beat between beats 1 and 2. This is one of my favorite stylistic tricks used to keep the listener on their toes! Listen to both tracks below and PLEASE tell us what you think!
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