Soko – Oh, To Be A Rainbow
- NICK DUTFIELD
- Jul 23, 2020
- 2 min read
Theories about the making of soul music abound, but right now we’ll just be needing this one; soul insiders can push production forward whereas those on the periphery rely on nostalgic tricks for their productions. Fundamentally, this explains why Alison Moyet singing ´Love Letters ´ is a toasty sofa sesh, while Aaliyah´s ´Try Again´ is like getting your brain zapped. Soko´s single ´Oh, To Be A Rainbow´ heads down the nostalgia route, adopting the sounds of mid-nineties trip hop to line its slow jam core. The vocals and drums especially seem to have been funnelled down a discarded pipe filled with the Sneaker Pimps´ ancient, oak-aged bifter fumes. Soka´s vocals do full smokiness, drifting like fumes over all these spliff-drifty soul ballad stylings.
Talking of those stylings, can I throw in recommendation for Little Dragon´s beautiful, slinky new track, ´Where you belong?´ It´s also got a retro vibe, but I´m not sure we can call them soul outsiders as they´re from Sweden, which is the centre of adventurous pop production, and also they collaborated on De La Soul´s track ´Drawn´- aka the Most Mind-Blowingly Awesome Chill Hop Thing for about 20 years.
Back to Soko, she´s a French actress as well as singer, and if you find her voice appealing then you can join the Spike Jonze club – he cast her to vocalise an operating system in ´Her.´ She describes ´Oh, To Be A Rainbow´ as her gay anthem. She even says, “It’s about turning all of my very straight girlfriends not so straight anymore!” Warning! Songs can have very powerful effects.
Joining the Spike Jonze club was meant as a joke, but I´m going to embrace his voice-only casting option by suggesting that ´Oh, To Be A Rainbow´ sounds about 8 times better if you don´t bother with the video. It´s a barrage of colourfulness, cheerfulness and rubber-gloviness, but not in a good way. At least, not from my point of view. V magazine describe it as ¨an intoxicating, otherworldly experience,¨ so it has its admirers. Let´s just say that marigolds and rainbow twinkles can be divisive.
THIS WEEK
Soko – Oh, To Be A Rainbow
111,148 views since 26th June (Avge views – 26,828 per week)
LAST WEEK
Badsista feat. Brisa Flow - Bésame
Avge views – 53 per week Blog week – 54 (!!!!!)
EXTRAS
Little Dragon – Where You Belong
De La Soul ft. Little Dragon – Drawn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGpw84iVgmM
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