There is a timeless quality to Bronze’s new single ‘Light In Shadow’. There are no hard edges to cut yourself on, it’s a toasted marshmallow of a track, like a hug from Manuka honey or getting wrapped in plump cumulus clouds on a sunny day.
The band; Dylan Ryan, Scott McGaughey and Nic Johns are kindred spirits, with Dylan and Scott having known each other since their teenage years and have a shared love of Robin Gibb, Roxy Music, and the soundtracks of Tangerine Dream, and Dylan and Nic who have a shared career composing for film and TV.
The softness of ‘Light On Shadow’ belies the supple complexity of its construction. Like the gentler side of Scritti Politti, the skill in songwriting is to write a superlative song where the joy of the song belies the musicianship. There’s a wonderful chord progression in the verse that twists in an unexpected way and there are plenty of soft flute sounds drifting throughout, alongside delicately picked muted-guitar. The mellow solo from piano and guitar from the middle of the song would easily snuggle up to so many of Steely Dan’s finest songs.
To accompany the track Bronze asked fine artist Lisa Glenn Armstrong to put together the video. It’s full of archive footage that looks like it has been retrieved from corporate videos extolling the virtues of modern technology and this is then treated with vibrating animation and blown out colours.
Bronze socials: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube
Review by Paul F Cook
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