Music Review for House Of Cards by Drae Lawson

As a piece of music this track is refreshing to listen to. The mellow yet theatrical set up has a simplicity to it, but the elements that hold it together are all quite unique and unusual, so together the sound has a lot of appeal. The rhythm is great, one of the strongest parts of the whole thing – it’s hypnotic, and the simplistic nature of the overall musical presence means that you focus in on each instrument and line while the rhythm guides your mind along. The vocal adds massively to that hypnotic element, there’s a feeling of trip-hop here, yet it’s fused with a fairly organic and real sounding scene. You can picture it taking place during a live show.

The lead vocal is heavily reverbed and pretty quiet within the mix, but it seems like that was a good choice to make – it makes it another instrument, equal to the others, yet with a longer lasting effect as the words stay with you and leave you thinking long after they’ve gone. The beat, or the simple click guiding the rhythm, has a certain smoothness to it, yet it feels serious – it has the effect of making you feel the need to really listen and pay attention. So later on, when you get the break down, the music falls away and the vocal remains, you have to essentially stop what you’re doing and make sure to focus on the voice. It’s a clever effect.

The song has such a unique style to it that it really stands out among a lot of other tracks that might possibly be labelled with similar genres. The whole thing has a slightly jazzy feel to it, the click in particular, the mellow rhythm, yet that trip-hop element and the vocal style adds something a little darker – all in all it’s a good combination.

By Rebecca Cullen