Nick Sanzeri – Wiped Out (2021)
After fronting his own band for the last 20 years (give or take), singer-songwriter Nick Sanzeri is embracing a solo single and it’s damn good! Fusing elements of blues, funk and soul atop a strong rock-influenced guitar, Sanzeri is engaging, innovative and highly original. After playing with artists like Everclear, and being described as having “a very soulful voice” by Michael McDonald of The Doobie Brothers, the US-based multi-instrumentalist demonstrates an elegant sophistication in his music. The latest addition to his growing discography is the single ‘Wiped Out’.
Fusing the styles of Chicago, Boston and Earth, Wind and Fire, Nick Sanzeri’s ‘Wiped Out’ is a tribute to the funk-rock groups of the 70s. With the intensity of Jimi Hendrix and the gracefulness of Philip Bailey, Sanzeri shares insight into the fragility of human emotion with vulnerable vocals. Despite the smoothness of the flowing single, ‘Wiped Out’ has a haunting quality that lingers after you stop swaying to the beat.
A guitar-driven track, the majority of the instrumental focus is placed on, well, the guitars; however, this does not mean any other instruments are lost in the melody. I find the incorporation of a piano in the track moving and apt to capture the sentimentality of ‘Wiped Out’. Using its laidback quality with the delicate tone and timbre of his rich voice, Sanzeri invokes the pleasure and pain of good music with a desperate underlying concept. It is, I think, the genuineness of the song that really grabs you and penetrates your soul.
Growing up with funk-rock bands blasting through the speakers, it is difficult for me to believe any contemporary artist can match the vocal gymnastics of Philip Bailey or powerful lyricism of Robert Lamm; however, Nick Sanzeri could be that artist who drags the best of the 70s into the 21st century. The first single of 2021, ‘Wiped Out’ is an explosive sign of good things to come.
For more from Nick Sanzeri check out his official website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
