Music Review for Lew Jay – “Feels Like Home”

You immediately get swept away by the descending and classical sounding piano playing that opens up this track. Both of the vocal performances that follow are unexpected and unique, the sound surprises you, in a good way – it enthralls you. The melody is easy going, the female vocal sounds soft and melancholy, easy to remember. The rap vocal has a wonderful amount of character to it. The local accent adds a lot in itself, but the general flow and vocal style has a very spoken word feeling to it – you can hear this being effective as an acapella performance.

The whole thing seems very calm, there’s a confidence in the vocals and the heaviness of the beat, but the vibe is kept mellow. Despite this, you feel the intensity of the song – those descending piano chords, the thick and dramatic beat, the build up of the music towards the final section, the lyrics, the speed. The overlapping of vocals towards the very end sounds great, a really powerful mix that brings out that intensity even more so, and amplifies the feelings behind the song. The production is strong, and by all accounts this could be a song with huge commercial appeal, but at the same time – there’s a distinct feeling of this being very underground, very organic, which is a good quality to possess. The music has that element of the real involved, that sound which makes it believable, and accessible to each and every working person out there.

The mellow vibe was a good direction in which to take this particular song, as you can sit back and really listen, letting the words and the music sink in. It would be interesting to hear more music from this artist if the general consensus is to put out songs of honesty like this; those which stem from personal experience. They hit much harder than those which try to be something they’re not.

By Rebecca Cullen

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