Greg Bounce’s colorful, indie, Elton John-esque pop returns with a fine, new offering that stirs and haunts.
The Lisbon-based Greg Bounce has a short, but illustrious, track record of terrific, electronic pop cuts released to his name in the past few years. Friends In Town, his latest single, is a fine addition to this catalog. Utilizing a top-notch crew of musicians, Greg Bounce’s thought-provoking songwriting, mystique- laden compositions, and flamboyant delivery sit quite elegantly on top of a vividly colored tapestry of music.
Hosting the bassist of Dutch Uncles, Robin Richards, the drummer Andrew Richardson, and Matthew Halsall’s bandmate, pianist Liviu Gheorghe, Greg Bounce’s “band” on Friends In Town is easily a spot of envy, but it is his rich songwriting and alluring lyricism that ties everything together and make this piece of gorgeous pop truly stand out.
Piano-driven, the lush-but-restrained playing of Liviu Gheorghe creates an organic atmosphere of intriguing and curious jazz harmonies that help the song’s majestic composition pop out. The song is a slow burner that maintains an understated dynamic throughout its first half, before a gentle explosion from the roomy drums and boomy bass bring forth a delicate but present crescendo that elegantly wafts the song along until its final moments.
Greg’s lyrics of Friends In Town are cryptic but carry a certain poignancy to them that make them open for tens of interpretations, and all of them are either pretty, grand, or confident. With their inclusion of mentions of Manchester, Jaguars, institutes, factories, and friends in towns, the song easily paints rich pictures of places and situations, sounding metropolitan with an ever-so-slight desaturation, courtesy of the washed-out chord voicings and the chords themselves, lending the song an air of authenticity that helps greatly with immersion. All of this could not have seen the light of day without the masterful input of producer Samuel Jones.
Friends In Town is a masterful new cut from a heavyweight pop musician who keeps proving with each release that he’s still got a lot more to give. A beautiful and eloquent piece of effervescent pop.