It takes talent to craft a beautiful song full of lush instrumentation and layered arrangements. But it takes much more than that to strip it down and lay it bare enough for it to be frugal and exposed yet retain all its charm and joy.
The Art Crimes Band is a jazz/R&B/Soul band that hails from Cork, Ireland. With a rich history of playing pubs and bars nightly for a decade. This shows in this piece, a stripped-down version of their 2015 song ‘If Only’ released in honor of International Jazz Day.
It sees the whole band fall to the background to leave only Grace McMahon (vocals) and Katie O’Donnell (piano) on stage for an intimate and sweetly short take on the song. The mix is very simple. When you only have one piano line and one vocal line, it becomes easy for them both to shine. It helps if the piano sounds rich and warm and the vocals are confident and snazzy… and they do.
The motif is strongly jazzy. Full of complex chords and modulations. Yet it feels very easy to digest and understand, as it is cut into short segments with minimal movements that are beautiful and easy to grasp. One might be tempted to call it lazy if it wasn’t so expertly executed and purposefully delivered.
I, for one, would be thankful ‘The Art Crimes Band’ decided to walk away from playing all those pubs if it means more beautiful works like this are to come our way in the future. I will be waiting.