The Lonely Together is the name given to the musical projects of Edinburgh-based artist, Mike Baillie. His latest single, City Lights, also brings in The Cairn String Quartet, plus drums from Scott Kelman of Aberdeen band The Little Kicks. We’ve been taking a listen here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today.
City Lights starts with some gentle, warm, stereo acoustic guitar. The picking pattern and chord progression are reminiscent of Snow Patrol’s, Chasing Cars.
Baillie’s voice is warm too. His vocals are close and intimate, with just a touch of Mike Scott or perhaps, Bruce Springsteen. There’s just a touch of gravel in the voice to give it some extra character, which helps to make the performance of the lyrics more passionate and endearing.
City Lights moves along with a simple and timeless feel and it’s not until around 1 minute 20s in that any further instrumentation is added. At this point, the swelling string section joins the mix as well as bass and some well-placed incidental guitar and piano. The whole song by this point feels positively euphoric and we feel that this is an absolutely ideal track to be placed in a TV show or movie. So many music supervisors are seeking out acoustic singer-songwriter tracks like this (BBC and AMC as examples of some big hitters) that we think this could be a great source of new fans for The Lonely Together’s music.
We love how the song drops back down but the strings remain present in the third verse. By the time you reach 2 minutes 20s, you are treated to the addition of a drum kit, and the song progresses into a euphoric and cinematic instrumental section towards the end. This song really does scream “sync deal!”
City Lights is a romantic and cinematic singer-songwriter track that will uplift you on even the darkest of days. Highly recommended.