Xander Cameron – Whitney Houston


Fans of George Michael who just wish he’d recorded a little more before his untimely death need look no further than Xander Cameron’s latest single, entitled “Whitney Houston”.

This was the first time we’d been introduced to Xander and let me tell you… his music is for the soul.

“Whitney Houston” starts with a very effective EQ sweep and develops well throughout. There’s lots of rise and fall in this track and plenty to keep the listener engrossed here.

There’s some superb stereo on this track with super-funky rhythm guitar panned to the right. A beautiful, distant guitar with buckets of reverb fills the gaps between vocals nicely and sits far back enough that it doesn’t dominate.
This is a well mixed track with the backing vocals sitting nicely in the mix, again without dominating, just bolstering the super smooth lead vocals of Xander Cameron.

A great stereo delay effect on the alto sax solo gives it a real edge and helps to make it sit in the track in its own space. The horn section later in the song add a real soulful feel and fill out the sound well. I also like how the solo sax returns a little later in the song as an incidental instrument, but is panned fairly hard to the left so as not to detract from the vocals.

The style of this song reminded me a little of Jamiroquai, but the lead vocalist is clearly a fan of George Michael. Most definitely NOT a copycat in any way, Cameron has his own style, but its very clear to me that he is a fan. There’s some nuances and timbre in his voice that are similar.

To my mind, there are a few places in the track where the vocals just get a little lost. A boost in the high mids on the vocal track will just give a little more presence and edge.

As a fan of George Michael, if you’re reading, Xander, have a listen to the production on George’s mid 90s era for some ideas. His producer often put extra reverb in just the sibilance of the vocal – have a listen to “Spinning The Wheel” as a reference track.

This song really did make our day here at Send Me Your Ears. This is an absolutely beautiful, authentic, classy and ever so slightly retro track. Great stuff. We hope to hear much much more.

Find of the day. We give this song 5 ears out of 5