Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to the latest single from Cleveland duo, the Baker’s Basement. Something’s Brewing was released on February 10th, 2023, and if you’re looking for a male/female duet that effortlessly crosses several genres, this song is for you.
Something’s Brewing is about a certain feeling many of us might be able to relate to. It’s about that sense of helplessness one experiences when thinking about everything all at once, and not having a clue what to do with it all.
Something’s Brewing starts with a filtered EQ with guitar and very live-sounding distant percussion. When the (male) vocal comes in, the song remains filtered, giving it a 1930’s lo-fi feel in its production. It feels old-timey and works particularly well with the percussion.
Male and female vocals take turns, with some superb imagery in the lyrics (“somethings been stewing but it’s not on the stove”).
At around 1 minute in, the song takes a completely different direction, with the full EQ spectrum covered, and a more modern sound takes over. The rhythms are funky and you can’t help but be swept along here. For the most part, the vocalists take turns, but when they sing together in harmony, it is an exquisite combination.
Trying to pin the song down to one genre would be doing this duo a disservice. The Baker’s Basement effortlessly blend indie, folk and triphop, with some funk and jazz influences thrown in for good measure. Imagine Portishead and Paulo Nutini got together for a duet.
We love the use of heavy panning in the guitars and the repeated funky line on guitars makes this a superb and enjoyable listen.
We particularly liked the false ending. The female vocal at this point is cleverly timed, with the lyric “Is there something you wanna say to me?” followed by a lengthy pause and then the line, “I guess not.” We all smiled at this point – the lyrics are an integral part of the listening experience of this track and they’ve been thoughtfully put together.
Ideas from our ears
We love the way the song starts with a lo-fi sound and progresses with a more modern production. To our ears, a cut around 70Hz and a boost around 150Hz would balance out the low end nicely. A cut around 900Hz to reduce some ‘nasal’ tones and a fairly large high shelf boost across the top 2 octaves for added clarity and presence. A single-band compressor with some make-up gain in this area is another great way to achieve extra brightness. Finally, a light compressor/limiter on the whole mix with a little make-up gain would add some warmth overall as well as raising the volume. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
The Baker’s Basement’s latest single, Something’s Brewing is a delightful male/female duet which will undoubtedly win them many new fans. Genre-crossing music at its absolute best.