In a Billboard article printed in March of 2002 – simply two days after the discharge of his debut album The Method I Really feel – Winnipeg-born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Remy Shand makes a number of references to his musical influences. All through the piece, giants like Earth Wind & Fireplace frontman Phillip Bailey, in addition to Al Jarreau, Steely Dan, the producer Willie Mitchell (Al Inexperienced, Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson) are all name-checked. Contemplating the state of R&B within the early 00s, it’s not stunning to listen to a younger musician like Shand maintain such a deep reverence for – and data of – decades-old music. When The Method I Really feel arrived, the “neo-soul” revolution was in full swing and innovators like Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Maxwell, Jill Scott, and others have been digging deep into the roots of basic 70s soul to create a sound that was each recent and self-referential.
Hearken to the deluxe version of The Method I Really feel.
After years of incubating in open mic nights and chill lounge spots all through the US and overseas, this retro soul sound finally blew up. Seemingly out of nowhere, the dreamy vocal harmonies, buttery Rhodes pianos, and wah-wah guitars of the previous had made a comeback. It acquired to the purpose the place, with a purpose to be a soul singer, one was nearly required to own an encyclopedic data of the style’s previous. This distinctive cultural second was good for Remy Shand and The Method I Really feel mirrored his deep data of and affection for soul music.
The album’s opener “The Way I Feel” is constructed upon a bouncy groove that finally provides technique to a refrain that recollects the candy Philly soul jams that Thom Bell and Linda Creed crafted within the mid-’70s. Shand’s vocal supply is impassioned as he pleads along with his lady to both love him like he must be cherished or let him go.
“Burning Bridges” finds Shand crafting a Mayfield-like ballad through which he alternates fluidly between a whispery falsetto and his pure vary, whereas “Rocksteady” is a beautiful replace of Inexperienced/Mitchell’s vibrant, churchified southern soul. All through the album’s 11 tracks, Shand pulls from the musical touchstones of the previous, incorporating them into his personal stunning songs about love, loss, and want. Like lots of its contemporaries, The Method I Really feel wears its influences proudly, and celebrates them lovingly.
Hearken to the deluxe version of The Method I Really feel.
