Robbie Boyd’s forthcoming single, Look Up, is taken from his third album. Reading Robbie’s press release is like a who’s who of big names in the business; Simon Cowell, Graham Norton, etc.
Look Up is a simple folky pop song that starts nicely on picked guitar very reminiscent of Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars. Shortly after follows a lovely warm acoustic strummed guitar.
Robbie has a current sounding voice that feels as though it is along the lines of perhaps a pop idol contestant, or similar.
There’s some lovely rise and fall in this track, with some great development as it progresses. I particularly like the low toms on the song towards the end. Well played and well placed with some perfect cavernous sounding reverb on them to help fill out the overall sound of the track.
The backing vocals, when they do come in, are subtle and a real delight. They bolster Robbie’s voice well and make his voice stand out more comfortably.
When the lead vocals come in, for me, it was a bit of a shock. It almost feels as though Robbie is just perched on the vocal mic and it didn’t quite sit right. Personally, I’d add in a little wet reverb and reduce the overall volume of the vocals. I think that will make them sit better, but that’s just my thoughts here as a producer.
I also think the instrumentation is lacking a little in the high mids. This could be attended to by adding in some strings which I think will balance out the overall track and bring in some more smoothness.
Look Up is the kind of track which would sit well in the background of a BBC drama, perhaps. It looks from Robbie’s biography that he is receiving considerable attention in the UK press and I’d love to see his social media statistics and fanbase soar be more in line with the kind of accolades he seems to be receiving from the media. We wish Robbie all the best
We give this track 3 ears out of 5
