How can you not get into a song which is this infectious and life-affirming? This groovesome and gracefully delivered? This cool and effortless? Liveth is the sound of Gernado doing what he does best, music on the pop-aware end of the reggae spectrum, deftly delivered, the light of touch and wonderfully accessible yet built from the rootsy sounds sonic sass of the reggae tradition.
It’s a song that is easily identifiable regarding its genre but also reminds us that reggae itself, and the scenes and styles that sit before and after it on the musical family tree, is a fluid and exploratory beast. It may be rooted in many core musical values – off-beat skanking guitars, basslines that tether the song to the groove, punctuating drum patterns – but it also can hop generic divides and wander new pastures.
Liveth is the sound of modern reggae and pop dancing gracefully together, the intertwining of the solid groove of one and the lightness and infectious tones of the other. But whatever you call it, whichever label you decide to slap on it, we can all at least decide it’s simply a great song.
