A new single release from Ali Mills brings out a beautiful and lush soundscape. It blends elements of classic Americana, folk, and contemporary pop into a track that builds and holds its own atmosphere and easily reels you in.
"Canyon" has such a crisp but full-bodied approach to it. The guitar tones themselves are outstanding as they breed this hint of southern-kissed tonality and vibe, giving the song that bit of Country inspiration. The way it unfolds, lets it build so that by the time you get to the last chorus, it's just massive and has layers of textures, harmonies, and notes coming at you from all angles.
This was a song that had depth to it, and a lot of the time, that's because the lyrics could be so detailed and descriptive that you can paint pictures in your head as she's singing it.
It was almost like reading a chapter in a book. I love having lyrics that are so descriptive that they pull you right into the moment and let you visualize what's going on.
Ali has a natural knack for building beautiful choruses with some layered and harmonizing vocals that add a sort of vastness to the track.
This whole thing did feel quite cinematic to me. It's got a great groove to it rhythmically, and the layers of guitars really work wonders in terms of building into those choruses.
Throughout the track, there's also an overlaying slide guitar, and it feels almost like it's used as a bowed instrument in a way.
Some of the notes played on the slide guitar are deeper ones a lot of the time, and this gives a bit of extra emphasis on the sentiment of the song during certain sections of it.
There is a great reverb effect on the vocals and some of the other instruments during those choruses, so they do have that indie pop sort of expansiveness that also helps build that atmosphere quite well.
The course is something that bounces around in your brain for hours or even days after the song has ended, and the only way to satiate that is to go and listen to it again.
There's something about the rhythm of this track that has a sort of rolling effect. This also gives you the Americana and Country inspiration and influence.
During that chorus, the slide guitar plays a solid couple of hooks, and this is a part of why it's so memorable. I miss musical hooks. Catchy choruses are always a plus, of course, because that's what they're meant for, but having an instrument play a hook during that chorus is smart and something that used to happen a lot in classic rock and even country music.
I love that it's being brought back with this track. and it's done right.
Ali also uses her vocals almost as instruments at times, giving off harmonized backing vocals that layer on even more memorable melody lines.
This track has a lot of hooks in it. And because of that it's powerful because although it's catchy and has all those hooks, it also has emotional backbone and again, that cinematic sort of vastness in its underbelly.
It comes through feeling big.
This track speaks volumes for the artist. It's something that blends some of the best parts of several genres and showcases her presence as an artist because the way she sings has soul.
It's a song that came from some place real, and you can feel that authenticity when you listen to it.
This has meaning for her; for some people, it can also be quite relatable. You can insert a lot of the song into your own life even though she's so descriptive with her lyrics at times.
I feel like Ali Mills is the type of artist that puts pieces of herself in her music and is unafraid to let plenty of those inner thoughts spill out for all to hear.
We certainly need more of this in music of any genre, so I'm glad to have caught this track when I did.
I would suggest listening to this track as soon as you can and doing so with headphones on because, again, that atmosphere has layers, and there are all kinds of beautiful textures and tones floating through the ether of it.
Listening to it with headphones will let you soak in all those layers the right way.
This was a beautiful track that has a wonderful way of wrapping you up and eventually washing you away.
Take a listen to this one.
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