Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to the latest single from Sano Hill, one of our favourites from Galway, Ireland. Time Out was released on June 23rd and is a song about an indie singer-songwriter trying to make a living and dreaming of bigger things. Set in Galway City, the song takes on a slightly Van Morrison feel in its storytelling stylings. The opening line, “Rachel left her number on the mantlepiece,” immediately lets you know this is a personal song close to Sano’s heart.
Starting with acoustic guitar strums and pads/synths filling out the sound, Time Out begins gently and with definite folk leanings. Sano’s voice reminds us in places of Mike Scott, and his passionate delivery is what truly makes him stand out. Later in the song, there are moments where Hill really gets the opportunity to demonstrate his vocal gymnastic abilities with some superb falsetto moments.
Drums and bass join the mix at about 1 minute in, and the song takes on a full rock band sound. The choruses are super-catchy and the extra instrumentation and voices at these points really grabbed our attention.
Worthy of note is Hill’s attention to detail in creating a track that maintains the listener’s interest. That all-important second verse is just superb. The addition of tambourine, extra guitars and melodic bass lines really helped to make this a standout track.
We love the instrumental sections, there is always a great deal happening and lots to listen to, and Hill’s falsetto over the fadeout instrumental section to the end, truly are remarkable.
Ideas from our ears
A hi-pass filter set around 40Hz would remove some unnecessary sub bass rumble and help clear up the low end. A fairly large cut in the vocal track around 190-200Hz would control the ‘muddy’ and ‘boomy’ peaks on those notes. Another smaller cut centred around 600Hz in the vocal track would reduce some slightly ‘honky’ tones too. Lastly, a high-shelf boost in the top octave could improve the brightness and ‘air’ in the track. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
This is acoustic rock at its absolute finest. Sano Hill has hit the bullseye again with his latest single, Time Out. Highly recommended.
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