After reviewing Mikey Shyne’s track I Really Want, we took a bigger glance through his back catalogue of music and discovered the song Set Me Free. This one is something else entirely.
The track opens with a gorgeously simple yet effective, acoustic guitar riff. This plays throughout the song, amongst the array of minimal yet atmospheric instruments that gradually step forward – all of which fits in with the trip-hop touch we spoke of regarding I Really Want. Those things aside though, everything from the lyrics through to the vocal performance is in a league of it’s own here.
Melodically speaking, the song has a slight feeling of being a big hit or pop ballad from the early noughties, yet the voice driving the whole thing really has that all important personal touch to it – you can hear the connection, between the performance and the lyrics; between the artist and the art. The song bears an honesty, it shows the true side of the writer and the struggle he’s been through, and it’s strength in many ways speaks much louder than the music surrounding the voice. The potential for a broken down, live and acoustic performance of this song is exciting. The emotion and pain in the words and in the voice stand alone in their own right, and as it’s a well written and well structured song, all that is left is for that real feeling to take it’s rightful place in the spotlight, which it does, and would perhaps do even more so at an intimate gig.
Mikey Shyne’s voice is sensational on this track. Whether it’s the meaning behind the words that drove the passionate vocal out, or just that it’s a completely different kind of song, it sounds great, it makes you really zone in and listen. The human element comes through in the music; the personality, the realness, the pain – Mikey has spoken of this song to say how much it truly means to him and what it meant to him at the time of writing and recording. It played a huge part in the turnaround of his life, and in a big way, knowing this, knowing the background to it, makes the music even more striking. Fortunately, all else aside, it’s a great track with a crisp and bright finish and a beautiful energy, so wherever your head is when you listen – you can appreciate the music.
I was able to shake the demons and come out the other side alive. This is the song that snapped me out of my funk and put me on the map. – Mikey Shyne.
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