There is a fine line between making music that is “loose” and music that simply doesn’t have it together. The latter marks someone out as being sloppy or perhaps inexperienced. The former marks out someone who understands the inherent swing of a song and knows that if you make a groove too rigid, it can be just as noticeable as if your playing was scrappy and ill-thought-out. Yes, loose is definitely where it is at. A sweet spot that is harder to hit than it might first appear. Loose is also the sonic territory where we find Ranzel X Kendrick, its a sweet spot that he makes all his own.
Like a Child is a gorgeously understated piece, sitting somewhere between folk and country, past and present, pretty much a signature sound for him. It extols the virtues of finding higher understanding by allowing yourself to be vulnerable, wide-eyed and open-hearted. Perhaps, if we did that, if we turned our back on the structures and rules of society, we can build a better world in its stead.
And it makes for a powerful and poignant mix, a wonderful blend of relaxed, almost busker-like music with a call to a return to a world based on more honest ideas and more heartfelt emotions. It’s a message we need perhaps more so now than ever before.
[…] know that you are going to get something chilled and melodic, full of grace and groove when a Ranzel X Kendrick record emerges from the review pile. But even within that understated country-folk place that he […]