‘A New Day’ by NEO “well crafted and comes with great vibes.”

‘A New Day’ is a colourful and multi-layered, organic-meets-electronica offering of modern down-tempo jazz. The soundscapes works brilliantly in filling the room with those joyful and easy going vibes. The opening few moments, before the beat comes into play, feature the pure and soulful sound of classic jazz – the instrumentation puts forth a real and human touch of musicality that sets the scene wonderfully.

As things progress, the track emerges into something a little left of the expected, and this too works greatly in its favour. There are a couple of very distinct riffs running consistently throughout the release, and this marks the signature trait or thread for the track – acting almost like a hook, though less pop-orientated and far from using the standard, predictable structure associated with the mainstream. Structure in this case is utilised as a means of allowing the soundscape to emerge and evolves in a way that lasts long enough to enjoy but doesn’t keep with the same pattern of output for too long, there’s no risk of losing the audiences attention, which is an important and often difficult result to achieve with ambient music.

The rhythm of the piece gives it a further favourable characteristic that comes with a touch of hip-hop about it. This additional influence works well, as does the meeting of the organic and the electronic. The horn section and the synths wind around the beat and never collide or jar with each other. The low end of the audio spectrum is well represented, proving that necessary warmth, and the high end is equally well integrated, giving you that dreamlike lightness – both of which are precisely in keeping with the movement and energy of the underlying beat. The whole thing is well crafted and comes with great vibes.

By Rebecca Cullen

Rebecca is a Musician and writer from Manchester, UK, with an MA in Song Writing