Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to R. F. Coleman’s latest single, Always Attractive, released on January 5, 2023.
R.F. Coleman is an artist in every sense of the word. Melbourne (Australia) based Coleman is a witty and talented performer and songwriter as well as a hugely successful photographer and filmmaker. We read his biography with grins on our faces and warmth in our hearts. R.F. Coleman has it all: a quirky and charming artist who (judging from his publicity photo and press kit) clearly doesn’t take himself too seriously. From his press release; “While covering the Thai coup for The New York Times he befriended a local gangster in a military-run cocaine bar and a few hours later put a hit out on himself. He was fired that night for Skyping naked with the Features Editor.” Don’t you just love him already?
Always Attractive is a superb pop/soul/disco song and has a wonderful retro feel reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys.
Incidental instrumentation comes and goes throughout the song, keeping the listener thoroughly engaged. The offbeat bass line keeps this song feeling super-funky and is a real pleasure to listen to.
The song develops well, with subtle organ droning in the background and adding some extra depth. We love the additional percussion in the choruses. The layered vocals work very well here too.
Lyrically fun (who else could get away with rhyming “let’s make it matter” with “blood splatter”), this is a song which will utterly delight fans of bands such as Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Human League, etc. Coleman’s voice is clear and present in the mix: every lyric is easily discernable.
We must draw the listener’s attention to the solo towards the end of the track. We listened for ages trying to figure out what the instrument was. It started out sounding like an alto sax, but then it took on a more synth-like brass quality. After a while, we realised this is a voice with heavy effects which make it sound like a brass instrument! Such innovation!
Ideas from our ears.
To our ears, the track felt a little ‘boomy’ in places so a small cut around 60Hz would balance out the low end nicely. Another cut around 450-500Hz in the vocal track would reduce some occasional ‘boxy’ tones. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
R.F. Coleman was a new name to us today but we always love an artist who is, in every sense of the word, a true artist. Coleman is authentic and creative in every sense; we simply cannot wait to hear more from him. Great stuff!