“Weird Old Man” is the latest release by Ian Vargo, an outstanding singer-songwriter based in Savannah, Georgia. It’s his latest piece of work, arriving as an adequate follow-up of “Light Up The Room” and “Creepy Florida People,” two excellent singles released earlier this year that you should also check out. Still, Vargo’s latest composition arrives with many innovations in writing, composing, arranging, and producing, demonstrating the natural progression of an already exceptional artist. Lyrically, “Weird Old Man” is a socio-politically-charged track criticizing Trump through witty lyrics. Soundwise, Ian Vargo combines several different but complementary music genres to illustrate such vivid, luxuriant sonic imagery. Perhaps indie rock comes to mind first, but don’t be surprised if you stumble upon some of the finest properties borrowed from indie pop, bedroom pop, dream pop, art pop, lo-fi pop, and soft rock. He uses all these additional elements as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details that uplift this composition to new heights while the artist remains loyal to the primary sonic direction. Therefore, these experimentations with many different but complementary styles resulted in a catchy, memorable, engaging tune that will resonate not only with indie music fans but anyone who’s looking for cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music.
As soon as you press play, you’ll notice that Ian Vargo poured heart and soul into this number. The lyrical content expresses his dissatisfaction with Trump’s behavior and administration through witty comparisons. The song arrives with the perfect structure, garnered with so many intricate segments, brilliant ideas, and outstanding musicianship. Each vocal, sonic, and rhythmic maneuver has its place and purpose in this sonic equation, making “Weird Old Man” such an enjoyable indie rock song worth repeating over and over again. Of course, you’ll immediately notice how the excellent vocal performance commands attention and guides the listening apparatus through each section. These vocal harmonies convey the message in such a distinctive way while emphasizing all the segments and instrumentations. Ian Vargo’s passionate, sincere, confident, powerful vocal performance decorates everything he intended to achieve with this composition while the seamless balance between low, mid, and high notes makes this number worth repeating over and over again. In the meantime, the interplay between guitars and mellotron shapes such a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll hear how the combination of jangly, angular, arpeggiated, and regular chord progressions lurk around during the entire track while mellotron accentuations, themes, melodies, and other sonic maneuvers elevate everything to new heights. Ian Vargo cleverly stacked all these layers for a multisensory listening experience, so you’ll have an incredible time listening to this track. Also, it’s nearly mindblowing how all these instrumental interplays pair with vocal harmonies, spicing this epic sonic journey to the max.
This composition wouldn’t sound complete without the rock-solid rhythm section. You’ll notice how the equally detailed, vividly hearable, warm-sounding basslines rumble beneath all those mellotron and guitar layers, providing more heftiness, clearness, and deepness to this track while binding all the orchestrations with rhythmic patterns. These low-ends are rich, dense, and heavy, offering more power for all those instrumentations. In the meantime, the tastefully assembled, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated, moderate beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keep everything in line while dictating groove and pace. Ian Vargo thought about even the tiniest details and nuances, so if the mellotron and guitars serve as a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon, then the rhythm section acts as a backbone of the song, binding everything together. It’s one of those tracks that vividly showcases all the brilliance of the artist. His experience, knowledge, creativity, and talent are on full display here, as he delivers meaningful, catchy, memorable compositions that will immediately resonate with the broader auditorium. “Weird Old Man” is a fun ride through the indie rock and indie pop universe, garnered with some of the finest ideas and musicianship you’ll stumble upon on the contemporary scene. Ian Vargo and his music unquestionably deserve your attention, and you should place this track on your listening apparatus if you’re looking for thoughtfully composed and expertly performed indie music. The single is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!
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