Some things never go out of style, and among them, the soft melodies of a good pop song stand out. Manny Cabo knows that in this ever-changing time in the history of good music, utilizing something both tried and true can have tremendous benefits if you know what you’re doing, which he does in the new single, the Bonnie Warren/Clayton Jones-composed “Paint the Gray.” Unlike a lot of hybrid alternative content to make headlines on both sides of the underground in the past year, “Paint the Gray” isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, or even change the particulars of a familiar model in pop. This is a boon to the traditionalists, and for this critic, it’s one of the best organic songs you can check out this spring.
URL: https://www.mannycabo.com/
Cabo is using the tempo to control all of the catharsis in this single, but rather than this producing a languid climax, it works to spread out a lot of the tension otherwise concentrated around the chorus exclusively. There’s something quite moving about a song that endears itself to us so quickly out of the gate, as though it were waiting for us to scoop it up in our arms like a parent would a child. Passion-driven songs have become an almost jaded expression of angst for the majority of pop musicians around these days, but not this man. His narrative is simply reaching out to anyone who will shelter it from a storm of doubt, and in a time of such rampant social discourse, its hesitant hue makes it even more humanized and relatable.
This track is sporting a much fatter bottom end than it needed, but I can understand the reason for this if the goal was to create a live feel for the music. Manny Cabo isn’t overextending the physicality of the tones in this song so much as he’s trying to emulate the rich experience of being in an intimate live setting where we can feel every inch of sonic space filling up in the air around us. It’s a little brash but certainly not anything I would count against “Paint the Gray,” which is by far on the more well-rounded side of what I would usually encounter in a release from an unknown in the industry.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/paint-the-gray-single/1685034504
Let’s be honest – too many players in this scene are understating their melodic wit and wisdom, and right now, it’s all their genre needs to stay afloat amid the growing interest in a singer-centric aesthetical revival. If there’s one thing that we can learn about Manny Cabo just from listening to his work in “Paint the Gray,” it’s that he isn’t the sort of pop artist who wants to bleed his sound dry of the fundamental whims we all fell in love with years ago during the last wave of credible solo players to take on the charts. He’s got my endorsement not only as a professional critic but as someone hungry for the harmonies of yesteryear sans the cringe-worthy camp that comes with a straight-up throwback.
Heather Savage
