Coming across like something of a mantra, Only You weighs in at only a little over two minutes.
Beautifully produced, with the vocal enjoying a hefty mix of both wet and dry signal, you really get to focus on the lyrics. Egzon and Stephh team up in some deftly-performed unison vocals which span an octave in an intoxicating fashion, and lead us seductively toward an ambient conclusion; which sneaks up on us far too soon, concluding quite harshly to make us hit the repeat button. It almost feels like we’ve left the warm mix behind and exited into a tropical rainstorm.
The final word of each of Stephh’s lines is repeated in such a way that the reverb signal leaves the audio equivalent of a vapour trail for us to hanker after. It’s audio honey and works very well indeed.
A backing track of treated keyboards, water droplets, white noise sweeps, vocal pads and muted percussion has been side-chained to have its own heartbeat. A big slab of synth bass underpins everything with a slinky assurance that’s counterpointed by the vocals’ hypnotic repetition of the title and the repeated use of the same hooky slowed-down drum break.
If there’s a crime here, it’s the brevity of the track! It sets out its stall long enough for us to have a look at the goods. Just as we might be tempted to make a purchase, it’s abruptly packed away!
Laid back, effortlessly cool and sensibly exploiting the skills of both singers. Great stuff.
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