Madden & Chris Holsten – All About You

“A bit like a clucking chicken”

Tim: I heard Madden’s excellent track Alive recently, and thought to myself “hmm, I wonder if Madden’s done anything else recently” and then it turns out he has. To be more precise, this, which as it happens came out just a couple of weeks back. (Oh, and the HD version of the video is at 50fps, so if you find that as distracting as I do, you might want to switch down.)

Tim: I swear, I’ll never get used to it. But the song? Well, it didn’t start promisingly, because in late 2017 that is, let’s be honest, a fairly generic voice/synth style. With competition like this, you’ve got to be very special to pull that off well, and, again let’s be honest, most of this isn’t.

Tom: And that chorus is very much a “yeah, I see what you were going for there”. A little Random Access Memories, a little… well, a little of a lot of things.

Tim: HOWEVER (and it is a however that deserves the capital letters), when the instrumental breakdown comes along (well, if we’re counting distorted vocal samples as an instrument), it picks up quite a bit, and the rest of the song from that point on is very enjoyable.

Tom: Takes a long time to get there, though, doesn’t it? More than half the song. It’s basically a song where the middle eight is better than everything else, and that’s not a good thing.

Tim: Yes – it would be vastly improved if that middle eight was brought out to be a standard post-chorus. As it is…hmm.

Tom: Also, counterpoint: those vocal samples sound a bit like a clucking chicken.

Tim: OH MY GOD they do and now every part of it is problematic. Thanks, thanks a lot.

Madden – Alive

“I don’t really see what I’d put either side of this to fit in.”

Tim: Madden is Swedish, here’s his second single; starts out as a nice gentle ballad and then goes…elsewhere.

Tim: And although it sounds clear listening back a second time, despite that build I entirely failed to see that breakdown coming, and had a massive “whoa, what the HUH” moment.

Tom: I was more surprised by the very start of that build: just that simple synth surprised me. The breakdown was predictable, but not any worse for it.

Tim: Right – after a second or two, once I’d calmed down, I realised I really liked it. All of it, in fact, and yet in very different ways. I can’t help thinking this might slightly hurt the track – it wouldn’t fit well on a ballad playlist, and it wouldn’t fit particularly well on a dance music playlist.

Tom: Yep. This isn’t danceable, and it isn’t calming. BUT: you could say that about a lot of Aviici tracks.

Tim: Very true. I would, I suppose, play it if I wanted to hear this track in particular – and I can see that happening – but I don’t really see what I’d put either side of this to fit in. Still, who wants playlists? I’ve heard this five times while writing this, and I’m not really getting tired of it. PLAY IT AGAIN.