LA (US) based artist, Zach Churchill, has just released the lead single from his forthcoming album. “Surrender” is about addiction being the result of untreated trauma. We’ve had the opportunity to take a few listens to this great track here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today.
The moment the song starts, we all found ourselves nodding our heads. The slow groove of this superb singer-songwriter/ rock track hits you straight away. The instrumental section at the start of the track really pulled us all in. Some really creative drumming patterns and a great groove. We liked the doubling of the muted guitar and the bass to really give this a superb feel.
When the vocals come in, we were reminded of Thom Yorke (Radiohead). A really crisp and clear performance with some wonderful character in the voice. Great pitching and lovely tones here. This is a high quality performance from a vocal that sits perfectly in the mix.
We absolutely fell in love with the unpredictability of this track. There’s some unexpected chord changes (major when it felt like it was leading to a minor for example) and some superbly unpredictable rhythms in places. This song really kept us on our toes and easily maintained our interest. There’s lots happening throughout the track, and some very creative use of rise and fall really makes Surrender shine.
We particularly like the truly creative rhythms around 3m30s which lead into a huge build to silence and then back into the chorus again. This track has been exceptionally well imagined and executed.
Lyrically, there’s some particularly clever spots here too. We liked the line; “I lost myself when I found you”. It easily tells so much about the mental state during the writing process and clearly paints a picture with very few words.
From a production perspective, a slight cut centred around 500Hz would reduce some boxy / honky tones and a high shelf boost in the top octave for some extra ‘zing’. Also, a light compressor on the master with some make up gain for a bit of extra punch and volume. These are tiny suggestions to an already spectacular track.
Zach Churchill’s, Surrender, is a wonderfully creative, unique and exciting work. We’re thrilled to have been introduced to this great artist and we’re very much looking forward to hearing the rest of the album, due out in October 2022.