[Review] Lucas Rabel ‘Listen’ “bold and uplifting”

Lucas Rebel’s music has achieved something quite unique in its meeting of acoustic folk pop and a slightly more indie rock or experimental energy. The sound comes through as very full, the vocals are doubled slightly, gently harmonised, the guitar solo running throughout the backdrop adds a stylish and beach-like bit of light distortion, plus every other bit of intermittent instrumentation that steps into the mix. The artist’s voice has a mellow and genuine, friendly sort of sound – the comforting sound of someone on your level, modest yet skilful in their performance, making the whole song much more accessible and easy to relate to.

From a songwriting and composition perspective, the music and the song has a wonderful brightness – it brings about hope, positivity, calm. The glockenspiel snippets, the mixing of guitars, the very organic sound of the beat, and of course the lyrics – everything makes for a very real, living in the moment sort of ambience. As the lyrics progress, the second verse in particular, the imagery varies, the idea of being high – the sky like an apple pie – it all adds a little more of a laid back element, hopefully further bringing about a smile in those who do listen.

The overall output of the song is bold and uplifting, and it works well structurally; it soon becomes familiar, easy to relax to, easy to sing along to. Lucas’ voice has a familiarity fairly quickly, and his style of songwriting suggests that a longer project release will be loaded with similar vibes and topics of further interest or that are approached in an interesting and characterful way. This take on songwriting has an enjoyable and easy going nature to it, and the melodies that unfold work brilliantly.

By Rebecca Cullen

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