DORNIK SOMETHING ABOUT YOU

There seems to be this sound at the moment, one that takes the essence of the kind of pop songs I would hear on the radio as a young-me and mixes it with modern elements - synth sounds or vocal style, for example - to create a cocktail of music that is as fresh as it is nostalgic. Note my careful use of "seems to be" in place of "is" there: I'm not making the mistake of pretending I know stuff that I don't. It could be a growing trend (certainly SEEMS that way), but it could just be the nostalgia in me making me gravitate towards tracks that sound more like the ones that would blare out on the radio on a summer's day. It could be a mixture of sentiments - a growing trend, due to the amount of people my age (or younger) making music that involves the sounds of their youth. I guess that would mean that everything you hear, or that your ears are exposed to, when you're young can provide an indirect influence to your creativity later on.

That is what I first thought when I heard this song by Dornik. I don't know if Dornik is a real name (Wikipedia didn't really help) but I guess it doesn't matter. He, a self-professed musician/singer-songwriter/producer from London, has created a wonderful song called 'Something About You' that is a piece of smart pop that pertains to what I was just chatting about: it's modern, yet nostalgic. Give it a blast.

From first flanging space noises at the start it's like stepping into a portal to another world where pop sounds LIKE THIS. What is nostalgic about it? The constant sunset-coloured drone of strings in the background, the muffled xylophone that faintly sounds every now and again, the tinkling brush of cheese-pop bells, the chord change at 1:43. But then there are those modern elements: the groove of the slowdown house beat and the glittering synth like sun reflecting off the surface of a swimming pool and the bouncy three-note synth whose sound is perfectly post-millenium. It's a cocktail.

I am lulled whilst listening to this. The vocals are superb, rich and husked with sultry reverb, playing in patterns of harmony and melody that soothe the soul. Overall it's deep and chilled, smooth and catchy - like a retro-future kinda R&B in the modern sense - and I think we should expect good-good things from this guy quite soon. This song, and maybe some other stuff I dunno, will be coming out soon on PMR Records.

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