Ahead of his latest album, Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes, this fifth single release shows Alan Dreezer as the master of restraint. Starting off with not-quite-a cappella vibes, a place where the voice is framed in drifting sonics, a swathe of atmosphere, and the ebb and flow of subtle sounds.
Even when the beat comes in, and a synth riff coils around Dreezer’s heartfelt pleas, this song is built as much on emotion as musical expression, more on subtlety than sonic display.
As “Apart” slow-burns its way towards the final destination, it is easy to imagine the late, great George Michael singing this – one of those songs that starts life perhaps slightly overlooked for its fragility and lack of pop immediacy but which, in hindsight, is regarded as a classic.
Thematically, this is well-covered territory for the pop world, the breakdown of a relationship, which, even when amicable, is hard to deal with; it is a song of reflection and rationalization, but also one that sees a broken man working out where he goes from here. But unlike most pop, it is a subtle and seductive song, a mature and masterful take on the end of relationships.
I’m not saying that Alan Dreezer has been around the block a few times, but this is not a song a younger, more impetuous, and less experienced person could have written. This is a song imbued with the wisdom of age. Not idealised romance or the cries of teenage angst but poised pop for proper people!
We need more of this sort of thing.