Manhattan (US) artist, Wise John, has just released his latest single, Marry Another Man, and we here at the Send Me Your Ears studio are here to tell you that we recommend you drop whatever you’re doing and take a listen to this beautiful Blue-Eyed-Soul track.
Marry Another Man is described here by Wise John; “I started writing Marry Another Man in the early summer of 2021 after an old flame of mine told me she might get married. We’d long since been just friends, by mutual agreement, so I was surprised at how taken aback I felt. Something to laugh about, really.” The song is of regret and loss and a sense of entitlement to what might have been.
Starting on just piano and vocals, in Marry Another Man, you are instantly treated to Wise John’s controlled and endearing vocals. This is an emotional and passionate performance with plenty of reverb on the voice to draw in the listener.
There’s some gorgeous use of incidental Hammond in this track and when the full band sound explodes in your ears just around a minute in, you can’t help but know that you’re going to hit ‘replay’ the moment the song finishes. One listen is not enough.
We like the panned shaker to the left, it adds a lovely bit of top end to the track and the incidental guitar fills and background vocals are just delightful. With a chord progression that helps the song take on an ELO/ Elton John feel. There are some moments in this track too where we couldn’t help but be reminded of Brian May’s late 80s style of writing for Queen (for example, Not One But You).
Marry Another Man makes great use of stops, with some dramatic sections and changes of dynamics and rhythms that make this song a positively exhilarating ride.
Lyrically, this song will eat away at your emotions. The pleading and desperation of the vocal line, coupled with soulful instrumentation and a gospel chorus, make this a wonderful listen and one that we will likely return to many times.
Special note to the video that accompanies this track. We love the simplicity of the video, with various band members huddled into what looks like a little apartment, and particular attention must be given to the end section where you’re treated to an insight into the whole process.
From a production perspective, we felt that the vocal track is peaking a little around 310Hz, particularly during the exposed vocal part in the intro, so a careful surgical cut there would help reduce that slightly dominating tone. Also, an overall boost in the whole track around 4kHz would add to the presence and definition. As always, these are just some ideas to try as the song already sounds great and is exceptionally well performed.
Wise John was a new name to us today, but one that we have no doubt we’ll be keeping a close ear out for in the future. For fans of ELO, Queen, and Elton John this track will not disappoint. Superb stuff!