Some songwriters have years and years of experience up their sleeves and still make records that have no milestones, and then there are those who write songs filled with complex details for other songwriters and music enthusiasts to enjoy.
In her latest single, “The War”, Canadian singer-songwriter Amelie Patterson implemented a guitar tone that is so angelic it almost sounds like a harp and is very nostalgic of the 50s and 60s days and the pre-digital era. Accompanying that guitar chord progression are heart-shattering vocals that will amaze you at first listen. It takes a phenomenal singer with a flawless technique to be able to sing in such a breathy method while maintaining their melody…and Amelie aced it during the verse.
In the chorus, Amelie sings with more grit and passion, and the warmth of her tone is accentuated as she takes the breathy technique and sings slightly higher parts in a beautiful and malleable manner. I was expecting the chorus to be sung in a more chesty way or that she’d go for the loud approach as many singers do, but as I said, she is the songwriter’s songwriter and she managed to exceed any expectations I had about how delicately passionate her vocals are.
The instrumentation has some crisp definition of the guitar lines that makes them sound more folky/country-influenced and some electronic sounds and samples lead the song into the bridge and final chorus…and I was left feeling that the song is SHORT. I just wanted more at the point it ended, and I kept repeating it in hopes of getting the same feeling as the first listen once again. What I got though, was a better feeling and a greater appreciation of the song every time- it grows on you.
Last but not least, I wanna talk about the phenomenal and inspirational lyrics here. If you’ve ever seen a friend or family member struggle and had nothing to do but support them with words and thoughts, then this is the song for you. The couple of lines that start the chorus are a great representation of the whole lyrical theme…and I’ll just end my review with them and leave the song for you to listen to and relate its lyrics to your own personalized meaning.
“And hold on darling fight your fight!
Let it be your gravity that pulls you to the light…”