Baltimore (US) based artist YUTZI, have just released the title track, Give Me The Blame, from their upcoming third EP and we’ve been taking a good listen here at the Send Me Your Ears Studio today.
YUTZI are a band on a mission. In the space of a year, they’ve gone from playing at backyard parties to headlining at some of the best rock venues in their area. There’s nothing we like more than an ambitious, driven band, and we were thrilled to hear of their rapid progress on their local scene.
Give Me The Blame has an almost John Prine style picked acoustic guitar at the start of the song. It feels like a folk song when it first starts. We felt that throughout the entire song, it just kept building – more and more instruments and vocals being added until by the end you have ten instrumentalists and many vocalists.
The incidental sax lines were a nice touch and quite unexpected for this style of music. There were also incidental electric guitar lines, and who doesn’t love a bit of cello?!
When the drums join the song, it almost takes on a different feel. The way the song was progressing leading up to the drums made us think that when they did arrive, they would perhaps be a kind of train shuffle style. Instead, you’re treated to a very 90s Brit-pop style drum pattern (think Oasis) and the whole song takes on a kind of Bluetones – Slight Return feel.
There’s some lovely harmonies throughout this song, making the whole thing feel rather euphoric in places, and we love the use of female background vocals (the whispered “I just wish you would stay” was a particularly nice touch).
Give Me The Blame feels as though it will sit well on folk/ folk rock radio, perhaps college radio across the US. It also, to us, has the potential to be used in a TV sync deal. It made us think of the incidental music and theme tune to the BBC TV show, The Detectorists. Perhaps a little rockier and fuller than the Detectorists theme music, this is nonetheless the kind of music that is being used considerably in incidental TV music right now and we’d urge YUTZI to take a look at options.
Considering the number of instruments used in this track, it’s been very well mixed. As the song gets a little busier with instrumentation towards the end we’d suggest a little more stereo would help to give more separation between the instruments. The vocals, sax and electric guitar are all sitting in the same frequency range and a little separation will help to tidy up the mix just a touch.
Perhaps a couple of extra decibels of make up gain to bring Give Me The Blame more into line with commercial releases, but essentially the master is very well executed.
YUTZI are an exciting band who are clearly taking things seriously. Their swift rise in their local area shows a call for this style of music and we are excited to hear how things develop for them over the next year or so. Give Me The Blame is a solid, folk/folk rock track that will delight lovers of 70s nostalgia. The motif of following your dreams and becoming a full time musician seem to be holding true for this promising act and we’ll be sure to be listening out for more.