Craig Gould – Burned

Craig Gould’s latest single, Burned, is a rollicking, fun country/Americana song about drinking! We’ve been having several listens here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today and we’ve definitely found ourselves an ear worm that we’ll be singing for weeks to come!

Burned is, quite simply, 3 minutes and 40 seconds of pure singalong enjoyment. With offbeat guitars, upright bass and a driving kick drum, this track has all the right elements needed for a hit folky rocky kind of track. There’s even a “yeehaw” in it. What more could a fan of this style of music ask for?!

One thing we absolutely must point out about Craig Gould is that this project (this track and every track on his forthcoming debut album) is in partnership with the UK mental health charity CALM. All proceeds from streams and downloads will be donated to CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). All the more reason to put this track on repeat… hey leave it running overnight too! There’s nothing we love more than an artist with a compassionate understanding of mental health issues.

Craig Gould is a powerful and versatile vocalist. In all honesty his voice really wouldn’t sound out of place in a Classic Rock song. There’s some wonderful grit and gravel and authority in his voice and it is the real highlight of this track.

The harmonies in the chorus kinda force you to join in. The chorus is so catchy that it really isn’t long before you find yourself singing along, amid smiles and secretly wondering the fate of the character of the song the following morning!

There’s some cool stereo delay effects on the vocals in places and some fun wah guitar moments hidden quietly in the mix. A breakdown in the middle with almost a capela vocals and minimal instrumentation helps to build the song back into that catchy chorus again. The rise and fall and development in this track is superb.
Particular kudos to Sonny Bruce Gould for the cutest “all done” line at the very end of the song. Way to steal the show, dude!

For a song mixed and mastered by the great Bob Harris’ son, we’re not surprised this sounds pretty damn good. For our own ears, we’d notch out a little peak in the bass at around 65Hz as well as give a wider boost centred around 160-170Hz for some extra warmth in the low end. A dip in the vocal track around 800Hz and a boost centred around 5kHz will add a little more definition, as well as a top octave boost for a little more air and brightness.

We truly wish Craig Gould well with this project and his work with CALM. Burned is a very catchy summer drinking anthem that just oozes fun and enjoyment that we urge our readers to go put on on repeat.