Timothy Israel – Heaven “The music takes you away”
Beautiful song, immediately pulls you in despite the simplicity of the sound – the simple strumming of an acoustic guitar when executed effectively, with the right mix of chords, the right level of passion, is enough to set the scene well in music. The leading vocal performance that comes in soon enough is a welcome addition to the mix, a confident voice, perhaps even something of a retro performance style – the musicality that unfolds as things progress further ties in with this – and a lightly uplifting melody.
As the track progresses the instrumentation takes a number of new directions, the sound moves from minimal to full on – the music becomes a wall of sound and joyfulness. The vocal harmonies are superb, and the hook melody is fantastic. The hook is consistent enough to really make it sink in, you’re likely in fact to find yourself singing along with this one after just half a listen. This hook is the main thing to be taken away from it, this image of heaven, this array of joyful imagery and this inspiring energy. The track appears as if it should be heard regularly as part of some bigger art project – perhaps involving film or some other art form.
The song is well written, the structure seems to focus on evolving consistently and pushing the concept and the hook as strongly as possible. The verse-chorus-verse-chorus standard isn’t something you particularly notice, the track takes on a mind of its own and regardless of rules whatever it does seems to work well – the music takes you away from your current situation for a while, the perfect form of escapism. Production wise everything shines beautifully, the voices are crisp when solo yet warm and comforting when part of a choir combo. It’s a hugely enjoyable few minutes of music.
By Rebecca Cullen
Rebecca is a Musician and writer from Manchester, UK, with an MA in Song Writing
