Feb 18 : "The Shortest Distance" - Quiet Luke (New York)

WIDE RANGES

I was completely captivated by the instrumentals in this track. I fell in love with the chord progressions right away. There's an ethereal and mysterious intro to this song, but these fascinating chords start in about 0:40 on the clock, followed by the beginning of the vocals.

Midway through the piece is an intriguing multi-tempo interlude that starts about 1:56. While the basic foundation of the song's tempo remains the same as in the first verse and refrain, some fast-paced rippling instrumentals enter at this point and take us to the second verse. I like the two tempos playing with each other at the same time.

I like instrumentals that are complex and grandiose and those at the conclusion of the piece certainly fit the bill, with the basic foundation tempo created by the percussion along with the rippling that we heard in the interlude now blending equally with vocals.

While there is a wide range of instrumental textures and tempos in this piece, I have to say that the vocals are equally impressive. Quiet Luke has a flexible voice that covers a wide range. He switches very comfortably back and forth between chest voice and falsetto. He even incorporates the two styles in one sentence! Listen to the second line of the chorus or refrain, where he sings "how i got here" in falsetto and then "i couldn't tell you at all" in chest voice. All one sentence! Another example is in the second line of the second verse where he sings "i know it's for the birds i've heard enough" entirely in chest voice with the exception of the one word "I've" which pops in as falsetto. Nice enhancements to the expression of the lyrics.

"The Shortest Distance" is the fourth track on Quiet Luke's debut 2016 ep "Beholden". I've been listening to this and his other music on Soundcloud ever since I went to his live show at Alphaville in Bushwick last week. Stopping in on my way home from work I was just able to hear a portion of his show before train time said I had to leave.

Here is the click to "The Shortest Distance" Soundcloud page where you can see the lyrics to the song while listening. He also has an eclectic mix of other work on Soundcloud as well: "The Shortest Distance" on Soundcloud (CLICK HERE). And here is the click to Quiet Luke's Facebook page: Quiet Luke on Facebook (CLICK HERE).