Recipes in music, especially in Pop music, have always existed. They are neither good nor bad, but a fact since the blues began shaping Western popular music. What makes it unique and interesting is what you can do with them: how can you rephrase, reconstruct, and make them yours?
With the single “Safe Hands” by Ellen Birath, it’s refreshing to be reminded that pop music can still be recycled into something unique and personal, free of the typical indie-folk-spotify-playlist idiosyncrasies that have saturated it for years now.
The second single from the EP “Mother of Pearl” has all the ingredients of a good song: the unpretentious storytelling is declaimed by the gentle (yet dynamic) and sweet voice of the Paris-based Swedish singer. A catchy refrain wraps the melody in circles, delivering what we crave from a pop love song. The production is open and airy, letting all the subtleties shine. In conversation with the vocals, the jazzy touch is omnipresent, grounded by the double bass and beautifully raw drums, and led by the electric piano.
Maybe it’s just me, but it’s cool to be able to listen to the fingers sliding in the double bass strings, and the membrane of the drum-kick vibrates, in a world of such compressed pop music.
Maybe the only criticism of “Safe Hands” is that it is safe, both lyrically and melody-wise. Oh well… I don’t complain; I enjoy being safe at times.
Written by Hugo Hugon
