Though it has some difficult competition for the spotlight in Rob Alexander’s searing vocal, the lead guitar in Dream Out Loud’s “A Song to Get Us Through” cascades from the heavens seemingly destined to make this new single perfect. Accompanied by a simple backend and a staggered piano melody, its strings purify the air that Alexander will convert into gorgeous music in this track, leaving anyone within earshot wanting more. “A Song to Get Us Through” is definitely not the only indie pop-rock single I’ve heard worth listening to this season, but it’s definitely a listen guaranteed to make you curious about its designer.
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The drums here are rather soft in comparison to the other components of the rhythm, as if to emphasize the physicality of the melodic push up front specifically. I don’t get the impression that Rob Alexander needs much help in creating a good beat outside of his own meticulous vocal placement, and a performance like the one he gives in this single is enough to convince me he could probably sing this same song without any sort of backing band and sound just as focused as he does in this instance. That’s no easy feat, regardless of experience.
While the piano is the primary foundation for the harmony in “A Song to Get Us Through,” the guitar part in the latter half of the track is what gives this single its most profound pizzazz. There’s no disputing the authenticity of the mix; where others would have inserted some sort of synthetic buffer between the vocal and the bassline, the keys marry Alexander’s voice to the distant guitar melody seamlessly. You don’t need fluff when you’ve got the instinct to connect simple working gears together, and this song indicates that such a task comes as second nature to its composer.
The lyrics in “A Song to Get Us Through” are quite multi-interpretive, but they’re not without a central narrative based almost exclusively on the mood behind Alexander’s execution. He knows precisely what he wants to say to us in this track, and instead of trying to bury his feelings in metaphors both familiar and flagrantly enigmatic alike, he lets the harmony contextualize what he’s trying to convey. That takes a talent you can’t teach, no matter how dedicated the student, and looking at the ambitiousness of how this guy is using it, I’d expect even greater things from his camp in the future.
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I just got turned on to the music of Rob Alexander in the last year, but I can tell you now I plan on coming back for more as he builds on what’s been started in Dream Out Loud. “A Song to Get Us Through” asks very little of the audience other than four minutes and twelve seconds of uninterrupted time to spellbind us, and though Alexander’s discography is much larger than this one single alone, this track feels like the awakening of a beast within likely inaccessible to the general public before now. I’m staying tuned for more, and I think other pop fans should do the same.
Jodi Marxbury