Track Of The Day: ‘Maybe’ by Hoodooleen
- James Shipsides
- Oct 24, 2020
- 2 min read
Song: Maybe
Solo Artist: Hoodooleen
Genre/s: Piano/ Jazz Piano/ Blues/ Pop/ Rock/Alternative/ Singer-Songwriter
Track of the day comes from Solo-Artist Singer-Songwriter/Pianist, Hoodooleen, who has featured before on Theresa’s Sound World and I’m truly honoured to have him back. This one man vocal and piano hurricane, blends Jazz, Blues, Rock theatrics, showmanship and a pop-sensibility to create some jaw-dropingly kinetic tunes. Today’s tune is a recent single by Hoodooleen, called ‘Maybe’. At the end of the review are links for this tune on ITunes and Spotify. There’s also a link to the music video to ‘Maybe’ on Hoodooleen’s YouTube Channel, plus a link to a fabulous live video version. If you like what you hear, there’s a link to my previous review of a trio of Hoodooleen’s tunes at the very bottom of the text.
On with the review! ⭐️
‘Maybe’ starts in the lower registers, both in terms of voice and piano. Low, deep, Bluesy. There’s just a hint of the Crooners of old & Jazz in the intro as the song glides to a brief pause. Then the essence of Blue Note 50s-60s Piano Jazz kicks in. There’s sweeping flourishes as piano arpeggios abound, creating a rich, sophisticated soundscape. There’s a sense of percussion through the piano, much like the finger style of a solid folk-guitar player. It’s where the music is in it’s pursest form, it doesn’t need extra percussion, or perhaps Jazz musicians, or even a traditional Rock band to flesh out and complement the style.
As the piano and the voice rise in the registers, there’s a visceral energy, almost like a distortion guitar-pedal being stomped on and then translated to Jazz singing and Jazz Piano. There’s little rigidity in Hoodooleen’s playing and singing. Although both are precise, there’s bounce and elasticity; reminiscent in some ways of Blues Pianists and Guitarists of old, with that meandering organic feel. Compared to some of Hoodooleen’s other material, there’s more of a ‘Rock’ feel and although the sentiment is sincere, there’s a strong sense of theatrics with the treblier ‘plink plonk’ solo, which has all it’s own character. The darker moments have the edge of Piano tunes by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the lighter, the playfulness of Ben Folds, the theatrics, Freddie Mercury.
‘Maybe’ ends on a mellower, but still atmospheric instrumental outro.
This is an extremely strong song, I do recommend repeat listens. There’s layer after layer of music, generated by one man and one piano.
Listen to ‘Maybe’ by Hoodooleen on:
🎼Itunes: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/maybe/1528285860?i=1528285861
🎼Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5GJ9mxsD8KKqkvsINp9XHa?si=5KUvLBZGR7O6i2wAsnwk9w
📽Watch the music video of ‘Maybe’ on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mBUYuURV0iE
🎤📽 Watch a live version of ‘Maybe’ on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hBj5d0Kr9JI
📚Read my previous Hoodooleen Review: https://www.facebook.com/100001267944725/posts/3214125701972996/?extid=0&d=n
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