Speak Words Speak - Out Of Love

Hear The Track Here

One of my personal highs of the past couple of years has been the very fruitful collaborations between Larry Ludwick (aka Speak Words Speak) and Jon Bushaway (Zebrabook/Dead Company). To see someone I have known for years, working with a newly made friend was very gratifying for me and the resultant work, while extremely weird, nonetheless has a well deserved place in my personal stash. On his own (either as Larry Ludwick or SWS) Larry delivers some very classy music with a wide range of styles and genres but - I shamefully admit - I actually prefer his more melancholic side. This side of his music, like say Leonard Cohen's, has a stark, bittersweet beauty that can be very impressive.

Weird yes, but I already said that.

I have actually reviewed this track before, in its The Exodus (August 2010) original version, a very smart semi-classical piece built - if I recall right - on a piano piece and this is a format that generally works for me. What also worked is Larry's incredible attention to sound detail, nothing let the side down. However, to equate that track with this one is to give totally the wrong impression. By adding lyrics written by Jon Bushaway to the track, and interpreting them with such style, Larry has IMHO transformed a good idea and musical exercise into something special indeed - most of it down to his unique take on what works and that inimitable vocal style.

Fidelity is a key word here. Sound fidelity is something I treasure and it has been one of Larry's hallmarks ever since I first met him. So when I hear him hitting all the right notes I am bound to like it. Again though, that doesn't do this track justice, the perfect backing bass vocal, the phrasing, the very air the track hangs in contribute to the feeling this track engenders in me. As I say, I like melancholia expressed this way, as long as tasteful and this is so elegant it should meet the Queen. Simply put, I think this is one of Larry's best ever tracks and a class exercise in making what you have work for you.

MUST HAVE melancholia.