Single Review: Hold On To Me Forever

This week’s single review is by piano pop artist, Alex Bent (and The Emptiness).  This song is off of his newly released album, “Dead, In The Water”.  I’ve never heard of the genre “dark piano pop”, so I was instantly intrigued.  The album artwork is interesting, and makes me want to learn more about this mysterious artist, I Am The Emptiness.

The single, “Hold On To Me Forever”, is a mixture of emotions put into one song.  It starts off with “surrounding synth”, which I think is always a cool intro to any song; followed by some nice tremolo effects that take me back to the 90’s.  I love the minimal beat that comes in with the chorus like vocals.  It reminds me of something that the UK group, The Streets, would do.  The lyrics keep me interested, and I love the harmonies and how they’re manipulated throughout.

The vocal production is flawless, and this is quite accurate in the “dark” part of their “dark piano pop” description.  I love the different vocal ranges, especially how they’re blended in the chorus.  If 50 shades of gray had a bonus track to their soundtrack, this song would be it.  It’s a very “sexy” song.  I also enjoyed the reverse keys effect that’s used throughout the song; adding to the great tension created with all of the other unique effects that blended together.

Overall, I give this song a 5 out of 5 for production, 4 for engineering – I feel like there should have been some sort of drum break, but it just stayed with the nice minimal beat which worked.  I will most definitely be reviewing the album in the near future!