“If I Say” is the latest release of Frankie Muriel, a legendary American singer-songwriter based in St. Louis, Missouri. Arriving after “Sweet Surrender,” “Those Were The Nights,” and “I’m Still Standing,” three excellent compositions released earlier this year, his new track represents the fourth and final standalone single that vividly showcases what you might expect from “I’m Still Standing,” his upcoming full-lenght album slated for release thisy ear. Originally written and composed in his twenties, Frankie Muriel brings this exceptional number back to life by incorporating some new arrangements and modern production. Lyrically, the song explores love, various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances, making it a highly relatable piece of sonic artistry that will immediately resonate with the broader audience. Sonically, “If I Say” is packed with various techniques, approaches, influences, and styles, bringing Muriel’s songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing abilities upfront. At first, you’ll notice how classic rock shines in the limelight, but there are so many sonic ingredients borrowed from Americana, acoustic rock, folk rock, glam rock, alt-country, and many other styles lurking around. The artist uses all these additional elements as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift his music to an entirely new level while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Besides all those qualities that meet the latest trends of modern music production, you’ll hear how subtle yet vividly hearable touches of nostalgia spice things up, making “If I Say” even more pleasant to the ears. Therefore, these experimentations with many different approaches, techniques, and music genres resulted in a catchy, memorable, engaging composition that will not only resonate with rock fans but also with anyone who appreciates cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music.
As soon as you press play, you’ll notice that Frankie Muriel poured heart and soul into this composition. “If I Say” arrives with a perfect structure, adorned with many profoundly detailed segments, brilliant ideas, and marvelous orchestrations. Every vocal, sonic, and rhythmic maneuver has its place and purpose in this sonic equation. Frankie Muriel’s soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, emotional, and powerful vocal performance serves as a centerpiece here, elevating everything to new heights, commanding attention, and guiding the listening apparatus from scratch to finish. His voice seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes, emphasizing everything he intended to achieve with this song with such precision and finesse. Besides decorating all those segments and instrumentations, his vocal performance also contributes more than necessary emotional depth and complexity to the complex song structures. In the meantime, the interplay between string instruments and guitars shapes a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. Those string instrumentations deliver lush leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, accentuations, and other sonic maneuvers. It perfectly pairs chord progressions delivered on acoustic guitar while the electric guitar shines with excellent leads, cleverly implemented on the song’s closure. It’s nearly mindblowing how all those guitar and string interplays suit Muriel’s vocals harmoniously, making “If I Say” such a marvelous piece of work worth repeating over and over again. Beneath all the mentioned instrumentations lies an equally important low-end support. You’ll notice how all those vividly hearable, intricate, warm-sounding basslines rumble beneath strings and guitars, contributing heaviness, clarity, and depth while serving as a binding element between all the orchestrations and rhythmic patterns. These low ends are rich, deep, dense, and heavy, providing more power, groove, and detail to these songs. In the meantime, the exceptional drumming performance keeps everything in line while dictating groove and tempo with many cleverly arranged, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics. You’ll hear how every hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation over hi-hat, and splash over the cymbals cuts the ambiance, offering even more complexity to these tracks.
With “If I Say,” Frankie Muriel showcases how acoustic and folk rock can still sound fresh, unique, innovative, catchy, memorable, and fascinating. With all those marvelous vocal harmonies, magnificent string and guitar works, intricate basslines, and powerful beats, his music tackles all the senses and forces the listener to contemplate. It’s an acoustic rock masterpiece that will immediately become a staple on your playlist. “If I Say” is available on all streaming platforms. Do not miss it!
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