Just as Jonah Yano set the tone for 2023 with portrait of a dog, his new single "concentrate" ushers us toward 2024 — but not before bookending the year in review.
The Montreal-based songwriter effectively packs two songs into one, lending the first half of the nearly five-minute track to tranquility and the second to vibrance. The melody of the former swells in moments before he reins it back to its intended pocket of melancholy atop an ensemble of keys, backing vocals and woodwinds (supplied by Clairo).
A saxophone solo gives way to the back half of the song as a soaring chorus of delicately stacked harmonies urges the listener to "travel light" — perhaps on their way to 2024 with hopes of a new Yano record on the horizon.
As I've come to expect from any Yano offering, the beauty of "concentrate" lies as much in the precisely-arranged instrumental as it does his tender vocals, which simply reinforces his place in the upper echelons of Canadian songwriters.
(Innovative Leisure)
The Montreal-based songwriter effectively packs two songs into one, lending the first half of the nearly five-minute track to tranquility and the second to vibrance. The melody of the former swells in moments before he reins it back to its intended pocket of melancholy atop an ensemble of keys, backing vocals and woodwinds (supplied by Clairo).
A saxophone solo gives way to the back half of the song as a soaring chorus of delicately stacked harmonies urges the listener to "travel light" — perhaps on their way to 2024 with hopes of a new Yano record on the horizon.
As I've come to expect from any Yano offering, the beauty of "concentrate" lies as much in the precisely-arranged instrumental as it does his tender vocals, which simply reinforces his place in the upper echelons of Canadian songwriters.
(Innovative Leisure)
