Review: Could It Be You – Cisco Swank, Luke Titus
- by Nicholas Gaudet
- in Reviews
The New-York based multi-instrumentalist has returned with a new single, arguably his most ambitious yet, titled ‘Could It Be You’, alongside Luke Titus, to propel listeners in a groovy, experimental soundscape.
The song wastes no time to bombard you with the rhythmic nuances the drive it forward – an explosion of scattered hi hats, bass drum thumps, and snare hits create this illusion of disarray and chaos, all within the confinement of slow-moving chords and melodies that somehow give it perfect context. It’s jarring at first, but the movement will quickly grow on you as the octave vocal melodies swell and sweep through it all. The guitar chords strumming away at every complex chord change, with the gentle-yet-sharp bass lines accentuating the notes are a beautiful duality to the rhythm section. The instrumentation quiets itself as the vocal melodies take the spotlight, allowing the music not to get over-crowded. The chorus led by glockenspiel-highlighted melodies is extremely catchy, a calm amongst the storm. Just when things continue culminating, after a brief piano solo, the song comes to a complete halt, tonally shifting in almost every way when the song picks up again. A slower, more relaxed backing track founded by a soft electronic bass and buzzing synth pad take hold, supported by off-swing rhythm that propel the groove into the stratosphere. A gentle piano melody guides the movement forward, and slowly brings the song to a close.
‘Could It Be You’ is one of Cisco’s greatest offerings, to which the threshold is already high. The jazz and neo soul influences are present as always, but the experimentational approach to the structure and rhythm is something unlike anything I’ve heard before. The accessibility of the melodies and chords could make ‘Could It Be You’ a wonderful gateway into the more exciting and far-out jazz that this song is a part of to people unfamiliar with this spectrum of music, and that atop its quality from start to finish, make ‘Could It Be You’ quite the masterpiece.
