What else remains to be said about love? He was investigated and celebrated for centuries in literature, cinema, in songs that tear and comfort. Olivia Dean knows and sings it in I'm Seen Itthe piece that closes its second album The Art of Loving. The English singer -songwriter knows love thanks to art, but also to the stories of the parents, of the boys who put together and separate couples forward with age whose memories vanish over time. “He moves me to think that I can return it as I receive it”, sings with the background of a chirping of birds. “The more you are looking for it, the more you find it. It's all around you, always.”
Love will also be everywhere, yet nobody has managed to decipher its mechanisms, whether romantic, platonic or inner. At 26, Dean does not claim to master the art of loving. Indeed, it is probably the first to admit that most of his discoveries are inconclusive if not completely wrong. But at least a world is having fun trying to understand something.
In Nice to each other Velvety harmonies attenuate a repercussing that derives from not wanting to tighten a too strong bond: “I did the classic things, but they never work, you know,” sings Dean. “I don't want a boyfriend.” The beat is every now and then interrupted by ephemeral gorgheggi as the relationship you sing. The seductive game continues in So Easy (to Fall in Love): “I am the perfect combination of a Saturday evening and the rest of your life”. It is a very sweet jazz-pop that makes Diana Ross's splendor mind. In Man i need Instead he shows everything his security: “I almost like it when you call me beauty”.
Dean has charisma and moves in perfect harmony with a well -assorted band with a lot of trumpets, trombones, sax. The arrangements vine towards the blues in Close upWhile Baby Steps refers to the Motown repertoire e A Couple Minutes It is perfect matter for a duet. The protagonist of these songs wants to keep the distance, enjoy the weekends and then defy into when the party ends. He does not want to put feelings in the middle until he is sure he has met the right person.
The best moments of The Art of Loving they are the melancholy ones like Loud with his crescendo of arches and above all Let Alone The One You Lovepeak of Dean's career, song worthy of being next to Amy Winehouse and Adele classics, or even Beyoncé of the times when she played Ballad R&B. Dean had already aimed at the top with the debut of 2023 Messywhich contained Dive And The Hardest Partand even more with the individual What am i skirt do on sundays?. In any case, The Art of Loving I bring it to another level.
It is she who raises the bar. “I survive me if I don't want to be sad?” asks in Something Inbuween. “Love needs to breathe / I'm not his, I'm not of her, I'm not your all or nothing.” In Lady Lady An unexpected change is reflected in the sudden melodic turns with a jazzate tail that looks like the soundtrack of a film that does not end badly, but in which there is not even the happy ending.
Dean is still trying to understand love. “Lose something and something earns in the art of loving,” sings in the title track. Maybe everything has already been said, but not from her and this makes a great difference.
From Rolling Stone Us.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
