Thursday 15 November 2012

Blake McGrath - Motion Picture : Single Review


Blake McGrath is the other male Canadian artist who I constantly check on (the other one being Shawn Desman) for some groovy and some-what bearable R&B music.

In July 2012, he put out this song Motion Picture as a buzz single for his sophomore album Love Revolution set for a then November 2012 release but which has since been pushed to the early part of 2013 for some worthwhile reason. The single, co-written by Desmond Simpson and produced by CMinor of UnderRated Music Group, is undoubtedly slow-jam R&B with minimal instrumentation thus magnifying Blake's breathy and falsettoed vocals in the way singers like Usher or Frank Ocean hit home base with. Blake alludes making love to a film shoot in suggestive lines: "lets make a movie gonna light your body up and yell action...gonna rock your body baby, lights camera action!" While audibly satisfactory, the song could have punched stronger with added fast beats by the second stanza then culminating with a much interesting bridge to cut the draggy factor that seeped in by the second chorus. On first listen, you have that why-is-the-intro-so-long impression attributed to an almost linear production from start to finish. Blake is vocally OK in this piece (apart from his too much use of falsetto) proving that he can sing; but I'd rather he focus more on energetic uptempo songs to really maximize his pop artistry. Case in point was his Canadian # 53 hit Relax! Staying away from sleepy numbers would be a good start if he is to chart again.


Vocals: 1.5, Production: 1, Lyrics: 1, Chorus Strength: 1, Mainstream Appeal: 1.5 = (6/10)




Thank the heavens for remixes! The above ^^^ Pegboard Nerds Remix of Motion Picture redeems the slow original and turns the erstwhile bedtime story into a real floor stomper that it should have been. More mixes please...



The video for Motion Picture saw the light of day 3 months after the song went available for downloading. It's simple theme has Blake doing killer dance routines while wooing an attractive blonde woman with only a spotlight working the dramatic effect. One look at the video and Blake's moves make one yearn for a real dance track that would truly accompany his tip-top choreography superbly.


Watch the offcial video for Blake McGrath's Motion Picture :













No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Google ping