Densyl - Are You Feeling Alone

Hear The Track Here

I'll warn you all now that we are going to get heartily sick of the sight of Soundclick's Larry Ludwick this month. This is the first of three tracks he is involved in this month so, as well as the music, there seems to be another bonus side to collaborations. So here's a wee note: don't be thinking I'm not noticing this encroachment Mr Ludwick, no doubt a suitable punishment will spring to mind shortly. While we savour that delight, let us not forget that the music in the track is from Densyl, a Canadian musician we have encountered a few times now and - it seems to me - where he really shines is when he does collaborations such as these. There again, I am a big fan of collabs in general so maybe I'm more open to the appeal.

Both Densyl and Larry veer alarmingly (sometimes) toward the bland (or should I say smooth) side of the musical street and I have to say I don't care for that much, although - to their credit - both musicians have escaped serious injury from me and have done so this time as well. It is well known that Larry has a sombre side, and that he - like this reviewer - loves words; their values, their meanings and their sounds. This love shows up strongest in his spoken word project Speak Words Speak, but the same feeling pervades Are You Feeling Alone too, a suitable Ludwick theme.

Strangely enough, despite the intro, the strongest influence I got from this track was David Byrne (probably from the vocals thinking about it), although having been exposed to the music of Elbow just lately I'd say this shares some common ground. Grand, sweeping musical gestures will always count for something, especially when backed up with some musical muscle and Denysl does a very good job indeed, understated where necessary, punching out when it needs to. Having said that, it isn't truly the sort of track I would listen to much but I can certainly see a lot of people getting enjoyment from this track.

Highly Recommended song.