The world’s changing as we speak. Thank God! Everything that’s cool today won’t be as cool tomorrow, and nobody, not even the greatest in a particular field, will ever be able to live on past glories. Why stop and cry about it when you could as well get on with life? Forever changes, as Arthur Lee informed back in the times of ’60s psychedelia.
Cutting all ties to the past, however, is unnecessary and even hurtful. Take music as an example. Naturally, we demand new sounds and brand-new ways of doing things. But, often, when you listen to the great blues and soul singers of old and then listen to their modern counterparts, you get the feeling that you’ve switched from a big-budget movie to a lo-fi one-shot on someone’s phone.
Chlz understands this and works to marry the musicianship of the past with shiny, trendy, daring sounds of modern pop. It’s an appreciation lesson for what has been done well, but it’s also a clear refusal to dwell on things. That wouldn’t be brave, and pop music needs to be.
Take the opening track, and main single, “Fire” as an example. A highly processed bass synth leads the track forward, but the groove recalls playful rhythm & blues, as do the confident, cheeky lyrics and vocals. In it’s current form, it’s the sort of song that a teenage girl might choose as an anthem. Strip it down to guitar and drums, and this could be featured on a blues-pop album.
Expect similar strategies throughout. “Breathing” is sultry and provocative, but once more, it is built on a strong musical foundation. The guitar riff plays and hide & seek through the mix while the lyrics talk about the need to let go of the past.
“Too Deep” is the track that moves closest to classic soul music, powered by a strong but relaxed rhythm section. The music might encourage rest and recreation, but the song, complete with an uber-poppy hook, talks of poisonous love affairs.
Finally, “Back to You” builds on the kind of sparse, moody guitar riff that could belong to an Eric Clapton or The War on Drugs track. This is made, of course, to blend with a shiny pop exterior. The result is a more soulful and mature track made for commercial radio than we have been made to expect over the last few years.
The future’s out there waiting to be won over. Chlz’s blend of classic blues, soul, and modern pop is the artist’s attempt at getting ready, at finding just how much of the past it will take to predict what the outcome might be.
