In most modern pop songs, the common complaint you often hear is that “they all sound the same” – well we’re gladly able to tell you that there is an exception to this urban myth in the form of BASH! Consisting of singer Amanda Bashmakova, bassist Miles Hobbs, drummer Angus Mcintyre, keyboardist John Burdfield and guitarist Joe Burgess – these folks released their debut “Love, Smart and Beautiful” in September and here’s our take on this track.
The song kicks off with a great sounding keyboard intro and pulls no punches when the drums kick in – this is a great start to this song. Amanda then cuts straight to the point with a strong performance from the get-go, she’s absolutely on point throughout the song singing with absolute confidence and musical precision. A good moment in this song is just after the lyrics “screaming loud into the room” with the additional vocal layers to add personality to this song. This definitely adds to the selling factor of the song. It would be easy to say that the pre-chorus build up and chorus itself are pretty much standard flow for this type of music but BASH! does this in such a way with personality that it sets itself up above the rest.
Joe’s performance in this song is powerful, carefully but finely blended into the mix – which sounds nice. A job very well done here. Angus and Miles definitely add flair to this mix. We feel that much of the energy of the chorus and indeed the song as a whole comes from the excellent work of Angus. Miles’ performance here is a testament to the fact that, in any musical setting, the bass player is the most important member of the band (scientifically that is) as the groove he lays down is nothing short of awesome.
The band released a music video for the song and the thing we really liked about it was the superb job it did of highlighting the essence of what BASH! is all about – kudos to Simon Keene for creating an excellent visual experience. Definitely a great accompaniment to a really good track.
Though the song itself is very similar to other pop songs out there at the moment, the reality we all face here is that BASH! has a unique selling point – their personality as a group. This factor shines throughout the track and makes for really great listing worthy of a place on anyone’s playlist. Add to this mix the really well done and uplifting lyrics and what we have ourselves here is a really good start to the band’s career – we can’t wait to see what BASH! does next.
“Lovely, Smart and Beautiful” was released by BASH! on September 16th 2018 and is available on Spotify, iTunes/Apple Music and Google Play. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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