RT COCHRANE – OWN BACK (LIVE)

Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to the latest single from UK artist, RT Cochrane. Own Back is a live recording and was released on February 24th, 2023.

Own Back, taken from a live recording at a jazz club in London where RT Cochrane is playing with a five-piece band of multi-instrumentalists. The song has a definite ‘live off the floor’ feeling and takes the listener on a rollercoaster journey of tempo changes and unpredictable chord progressions. There is something about the track that feels restless and uneasy – the violin and bass compete for your ears while the vocals are low and inviting.

Own Back is a song about when feelings of revenge are funnelled into places. RT says, “I wanted to write from the perspective of a city that’s pleading with a powerful and bitter person to set them free.”

Own Back starts with a violin solo with bass and flute in the background, following the melody of the violin. A shaker joins the mix and gives an indication to the listener that anything could happen from this point in. The song here feels almost free-flowing with, perhaps, an almost French Chanson-like feel. The flutes and interesting chord progressions give the song an almost Strawberry Fields or I Am The Walrus feel.

As it progresses, Own Back builds to a more rhythmic feeling track with instruments filling your ears and delighting the listener. This must have been a great track to hear live.

Overall, Own Back has some jazz leanings, with 60s influences. It makes the listener restless for a time when music was more creative and less “three chords and autotune”!

The addition of an electric guitar solo towards the end was a welcome change and displayed the versatility of the musicians involved.

Ideas from our ears

A boost around 60Hz could bring out a little more warmth and depth in the track. The bass is a little heavy around 160-170Hz, so a small cut here could help with balancing. A cut around 500-600Hz and a boost around 4kHz could balance the mids and high mids too. A light compressor/limiter and maybe 5dB of make-up gain would add a touch of extra thickness and volume too. For a ‘live’ production, the quality and clarity are great. We’re looking forward to hearing a studio recording. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.

Final thoughts

This live recording was our first introduction to the music of RT Cochrane, but it’s got us intrigued. We hope to hear more from RT and his versatile band in the future.

https://rtcochrane.com
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3OEQVCk33BxdBeM9zJ16PE
https://www.youtube.com/@rtcochranemusic
https://instagram.com/rtcochrane