The Lovely Sparrows Release An Experimental Pop Single
A new single release from The Lovely Sparrows brings out a beautifully lush and pop-coated approach that blends a slew of genres to create something that sort of breeds its own atmosphere and, in doing so, also boasts this great personality that you end up getting attached to right from the get-go.
This single speaks volumes for the band simply because it takes such an outside-the-box style and soundscape and turns that into something that you can dance to.
The track is completely colorful, vibrant, and has this unique energy that's balanced but still something that is infectious because you end up feeding into that.
The song is called "Julian", and one of the things that I love about this track is that it has this sort of delay effect over the guitars and the percussion. The delay effect gives an extra lap or layer of texture to the song and helps it feel slightly rambunctious in a sense.
It's awesome to hear a track that feels a little scattered in a way, but also all there and whole, danceable, addictive, and taking this great Indian pop rock aesthetic but letting it come through with an experimental underbelly.
Throughout the song, you have amazing guitar work, and this is probably my favorite aspect of it. The guitar work here is outstanding because it is always a little bit different. You have chords that are struck, you have reverse effects that come in and out, adding a different feel, and the whole thing has this robust soundscape to it that you end up getting pulled into.
I like songs that breed their own atmosphere, the way this one does. There's not really much that you've heard exactly like this, and it's the experimental side that really sets it aside from the rest.
If they didn't have all the delay and echo on the track, the song would sound completely different, so I loved that they put that in there to add a certain kind of thickness and almost persona to the music itself.
You also have keys that sort of float around in the background of the track and come in here and there like they're peppered through the song, this also adds a little bit of depth to the already sort of vast feel of everything, and there's something about the energy of the entire thing that lets it come across exactly the way it was intended.
Vocals are also utilized as instruments at times, with melodies and notes floating through the ether of the track, along with a vocal that's more on the forefront, but a lot of the time the vocals act almost like the guitars do and are there for aesthetic.
They are there to add a different texture to the song, letting it feel alive and breathing in its own right.
Again, some of this feels a little scattered, but that's the way it was meant to feel. None of this is really structured in your standard sense; the formatting and arrangement are all its own, but still works amazingly, and again, it never loses the personality or pop overcoat that it starts with, and I think that's important because what The Lovely Sparrows have done here is taken pop in their own direction.
There are no walls built around this track and no norms that they're following. They're doing it because it feels good to do, and some of it feels almost improvised. The fact that some of these guitars are almost scattered and peppered throughout the track in different ways sort of puts you there, in the moment.
What's cool about that is it almost feels like you're listening to a live performance. That vibe is thriving and part of what creates that unique atmosphere and grabs on to you as the listener.
There are verses and lyrics throughout it all that again are more on the forefront, but even those have a sort of delay or echo effect on them, hints of reverb, and everything about this feels slightly distanced or wet, as they would call it.
I feel like the mix is such a huge aspect of what makes this work so well.
I don't usually touch on the mix of a song, but here it's so imperative because they had a sort of vision that they wanted to attempt, and for them to be able to create this sound was really incredible because it seems like it started off as one thing and then maybe grew into what it ended up being.
Of course, I wasn't there for any of this, so I'm not sure; however, listening to the track sort of again puts you in that moment, and the moment feels like it was alive. The whole thing is electric but not over the top.
That energy and aesthetic is completely balanced out, but there's a lot of great little surprises here and there, and by the time you get halfway through the track, you get such a good feel for the flow of it that you can't turn away.
This was approached in such a cool manner and really stands tall among pop singles, especially under the rock umbrella, because they are being so experimental and doing it so well.
One of the best ways to listen to this song is by watching the accompanying music video that we've taken the liberty of embedding below. The video is masterfully done, also following that experimental approach with the music perfectly.
This video does have little hints of haunt in its undertone and gives a slightly different view of the song itself because by watching the music video, you're able to follow along with some of the lyrics a little better, which gives you part of its sentiment.
So, watching the video is one of the best ways to soak this in for the first time around.
Even if you do it this way, I highly suggest listening to this with headphones on because there are so many great layers and textures happening throughout this track that it's elegant and a strange sense.
As far as we can tell, "Julian" is a glimpse of an upcoming record set to be released this November, and if it's got more of this kind of songwriting on it, I certainly can't wait for it.
