Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio we’ve been listening to Gary Dranow’s single, Fool Outta Me, which came out in September 2022.
We’ve previously reviewed a handful of Gary’s tracks: Made It (Another Day), Twisted Minds and Destiny Road. Fool Outta Me is another track from their forthcoming EP, Destiny Road.
Dranow says that “Fool Outta Me is about a one-sided dysfunctional and unrequited love. The subject has had enough and is calling it quits. The music is symbiotic with the person’s fatigue and finally making a stand. The lyrics were inspired by one of my own failed relationships where my emotions and effort were not returned.”
The full band come in immediately and lead vocals join the mix fairly quickly. Vocally reminding us a touch of Holly Johnson, there’s plenty of space and distance on the vocals to give the song a touch of darkness.
As the song progresses, there are some interesting bell sounds used to accentuate percussive moments and play the occasional simple melody. The song also progresses with additional layered vocals which add some extra thickness to the lead line.
There are some very cool stereo delay effects used in some of the vocal parts, most noticeably in the first guitar solo and we love the use of pedal bass throughout the solo. Both guitar solos are highly technically proficient, and we were very much reminded of Francis Dunnery era It Bites when the first solo comes to an end.
As the song develops, there’s some interesting use of synths which give a touch of the 80s to the song. Fans of Blue Oyster Cult will be thrilled with this track.
Ideas from our ears
A small boost around 140Hz would thicken up the low end a little. The vocal track could use a couple of cuts around 250Hz and again around 450-500Hz to reduce some peaks. There is a little harshness around 4kHz too so a cut here would reduce that tone without losing the ‘edge’. Finally, the track is comparatively quiet so a light compressor/limiter and 5-6dB of make-up gain would increase the warmth in the track as well as raising the overall volume to match similar releases. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
Fool Outta Me is an 80s-tinged rock song for fans of Blue Oyster Cult and similar artists. Some great guitar work in this track with classy well put together choices of notes and tones.
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