Brooklyn, NY-based singer-songwriter Ryan Gross returns to his Skinny Dippers moniker with the release of his new single, “I Just Can’t Help Feeling Curious.” Per Skinny Dippers’ Bandcamp page, the song details “late-night confessions” with a vocal take that “grows from restrained whispers to choral cacophony.” As Gross later states in the track’s description, “It’s about those moments where doubt creeps in and you find yourself needing to know something you’re not sure you want the answer to […]. There’s a quiet panic in that space, and I tried to capture that feeling both lyrically and sonically.”
Gross adequately conjures the feeling of this foreboding doubt with acute arranging decisions. His minor-key verses create shades of uneasy yearning and a sense of impending tumult, a finger-picked guitar providing anchoring and accenting alike. His choruses erupt with an ascending, reaching vocal melody as additional instruments come to the foreground. The song wraps up in a tidy 3:15 runtime, leaving a lingering feeling of unresolved conflict as the final chords fade.
Thinking about this single, Gross’s choices of production and arrangements are where he truly shines with this project. His style in the studio is somewhat reminiscent of an imaginary Elliott Smith lodged between Either/Or and XO, somehow both sparse and fully arranged. Like the unresolved feeling with which the audience is left, the sound is present but never quite lush, leaving the listener to fill in the gaps with their own unique experience.
Written by Jacob Simons
