Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to the latest single from Aza Brown. Wasting Away was released on 23rd June 2023. Here’s a special link for our readers; https://hypeddit.com/azabrown/wastingaway for a FREE DOWNLOAD!
In Wasting Away, British artist Aza Brown has created an upbeat and positive-feeling song, at a time when the world felt like it was falling apart. Being blessed with some unexpectedly good weather, Brown took a cycle ride in the countryside to get away from the madness of 2020 and found himself pondering life, the universe and everything. Realising that the only thing he could be certain of in his life at that very moment was his unwavering love for his girlfriend, Aza developed the song, Wasting Away. Realising that most people were spending their time binge-watching Netflix, he created a song which lyrically feels along the same lines as the Doors, People Are Strange.
Wasting Away starts with a filtered drumbeat before quickly bringing in the full EQ range with a full-sounding and feel-good sound.
Layered vocals fill the sound beautifully, and the combination of guitars and keys works well, whilst the bass and drums keep up the chirpy Britpop-feeling rhythm throughout the song. A few unexpected chord progressions help maintain the listeners’ interest – we particularly liked the minor 4th, and the addition of strings and more keys as the song develops makes for an interesting listen throughout.
When musicians around the world were writing their variations of the Covid Blues, Aza Brown has stumbled across a more positive outlook for his theme and stylings, giving rise to a track which has a Divine Comedy and at times, Sweet Caroline feel to it.
We like the breakdown which removes the drums temporarily and builds with some lovely offbeat guitar before bouncing back into the sing-along chorus again which repeats to the stinger ending.
Ideas from our ears
To our ears, there is a little bit of low end missing from the track. A low shelf boost set around 100Hz with an additional boost around 70Hz could fill out the track nicely, giving it a warmer, deeper feel. A small cut around 100Hz would control a slight peak coming from the bass too. A high shelf boost set around 11kHz would increase the brightness and ‘air’, adding to the overall energy and ‘light’. Lastly, a light compressor/limiter with maybe 5dB of make-up gain would further increase the warmth and fullness as well as raising the volume to match similar releases. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
What a wonderful and positive song Aza Brown has created in his latest single, Wasting Away. This was our first introduction to his music, but we’re itching to hear more! Great stuff.
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