Poetically Contagious – Toss Him Aside
URL: https://www.poeticallycontagious.com/
Get ready for a great platter of music in 2017 from this duo. Poetically Contagious has connected in a big way with their latest single “Toss Him Aside” thanks to its brave and intelligent mix of kinetic musical elements and avoids anything smacking of self indulgence or pretentiousness. This isn’t music with an agenda expect relating personal experience and doesn’t waste any of the listener’s time with unproductive sidebars and extraneous nonsense. Poetically Contagious look to engage the listener physically and mentally with strong music that isn’t merely some placeholder for their lyrical excursions and words that veer from impressive wordplay into remarkably direct and soulful lyrics in the song’s second half. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, clocking in at a hair over four minutes, and looks to reach its audience immediately.
They serve notice on that final point with the song’s opening seconds. Well recorded acoustic guitar opens it up and the duo incrementally builds on the base with the usual assortment of electronic, bass, and percussion touches. They find an immediate groove and patiently elaborate on it over the course of the introduction and the first vocal doesn’t even enter the track until nearly the one minute mark. When it does, the male vocalist is assured, gliding through sometime complex phrasing with complete confidence in his ability to put over the song’s narrative. He never sounds dismissive of the song’s subject, a woman who the narrator feels should ditch the worthless man she’s with, but it has a firm point of view that remains consistent throughout. The female vocals strike a strong contrast. The song’s R&B influences emerge most strongly here and the deep soulfulness that’s on display helps elevate this song to a level few will expect it to reach based on the first half.
It’s not an unusual subject. Popular song, in countless genres, have been covering this subject for countless decades, but Poetically Contagious brings a different, fresh, feel to the songwriting that many other songs don’t. It never goes too far though – the lyrics stay firmly on point throughout and perfectly complement the music. This sort of overarching completeness isn’t just rare in this genre, its rare in virtually any form of popular music today and, while this isn’t some singer/songwriter confessional tune, the combination of the lyrical content with the superb vocal performances give the song a strongly intimate feel that certainly isn’t standard for the genre. It’s hard to deny this tune. Even listeners who normally disdain hip hop or even R&B, if they give this a chance, will discover a duo who aren’t merely dramatic performers, but superior musical talents capable of bringing together a theatrical lyric and dual vocal performance together with an arrangement that doesn’t cut corners or sound imitative in any way. Poetically Contagious are distinctive and powerful. Their upcoming album should be quite the doozy for fans of the genre and, perhaps, might open up minds that are otherwise closed to the genre’s experience.
VEVO: https://www.vevo.com/artist/poetically-contagious
Joshua Stryde
