Seattle (US) artist, Seiichi, has just released their second single, 143, from their forthcoming debut album and we’ve been taking a few listens here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today.
143 is, in the artist’s words, “a story of rekindling a long-lost love and falling all over again, albeit amidst ‘nonideal’ circumstances. Moments of sacrilege and yearning, entangled in quiet reflection, elucidate a honest feeling of gratitude for an experience that some might otherwise feel regret or shame over.”
143 is a very gentle and dreamy acoustic track. Starting with some lovely live feeling intimate guitar, Seiichi’s gentle, intimate, breathy and buzzy lead vocals steal the show. His current sounding voice reminded us just a touch of Paulo Nutini. There’s a fragility and an openness to the vocals which is really quite endearing.
As the song develops, you hear some super-subtle harmonies being added in the choruses and some extra guitar is added – very well played and interesting. Further into the track some truly subtle organ or hammond helps to fill out the sound before dropping back to almost nothing to really showcase those welcoming vocals of Seiichi again.
143 has some great use of stereo percussion that really helps bring the track to life. We here at Send Me Your Ears feel that 143 is just the kind of track that would work well in the background of a TV show during an emotional scene. Some of the biggest music supervisors are searching out acoustic tracks in this lovely lo-fi simple style and Seiichi would be well advised to investigate opportunities.
From a production perspective, a cut in the vocal track at around 250Hz would reduce some muddiness and another at around 600Hz to reduce some honky tones probably picked up during the recording process. A boost across the top two octaves would add to the brightness. A light compressor on the master with 3-5dB of make up gain would add to the warmth of the track as well as bring the overall volume more in line with similar commercial releases.
We’re excited to hear the rest of Seiichi’s forthcoming debut EP. 143 is a warm and gentle track that combines some superb musicianship with a warm and charming lead vocal.