Xenia Rubinos – Lonely Lover (2016)

The moody, almost dark verses are made possible by a great descending bass line, sounding like a bass snare drum, which is nicely punctuated by a punchy, melodic bass. The clever slides of the bass both blend and augment the vocals, which in turn, weave around the bass. It is a fairly minimalist production full of electronic delights, but it doesn’t lack any melody or creativity due to its reliance on modern production like so much music seams to do these days.

I probably sound like an old fart for saying that! I am more passionate about bygone ages of music. As Brian Wilson said, “I guess I just wasn’t made for these times”. I can certainly relate to those lyrics.

This lady has a great voice which incorporates a variety of styles but most prominently, for me, that of Indian music. Parts of the song have a slight Hispanic feel in places, but maybe that’s because of the castanets played in the intro and later on, towards the end of the song.

I really appreciate its creativity and originality. It fuses many elements of music from the past to present. It’s a nice melting pot of ideas which proves that music can enter new territory and that to me is very exciting. I must admit that there aren’t that many songs these days that stand out from the mainstream and get my attention, but this is definitely one that does. It reminds me a bit of TLC in the 90’s, except the tape loops are doing the work of the three voices of that group. It is also, to my ear, slightly reminiscent of the relatively current, new-comer Lourde.

I really enjoyed this track; the choruses are really catchy, and it’s nice to hear the disparity between the dark mood of the verses and that of the more upbeat and cheerier chorus.

Ms Xenia Rubinos I look forward to listening to more of your material.