Artist Spotlight | Kamal Morales
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT | KAMAl morales | “saucy”
When I had first heard about Kamal Morales, I was most intrigued by his concept of working to blend styles together to create something both soulful and with historically rich roots, while at the same time, also aiming to be something completely different from everything else out there currently.
This high artistic aim of creating something ‘new’ should be applauded right off the bat and should be something that everyone who truly believes themselves to be an artist should aspire to. With this philosophy in my mind and setting a high expectation for what I was about to hear, I put my headphones on and hit play.
In Saucy, the stage is set well at the start of the track with a beautiful piano melody before jumping into some cutting-edge drum loop and an augmented vocal declaration of the song’s title. Did I also hear the sound of a gun cocking as the drums kicked in? If so, that was a nice touch.
Despite the modern drum beat and advanced computerized tools of the trade so popular in music these days, for some reason when I listened to Saucy, I could imagine it being sang slowed down and more sensually like a traditional R&B song from the 90s. Perhaps this was the blending of styles mentioned already, but I for one appreciated it.
As the track progresses, this combination of styles continues and keeps you on your toes as Morales busts out a few bars of free-flowing hip-hop lyrics before slowing it back down and soaring to some supreme vocal heights. I also must say that the production value of Saucy is really top-notch. I don’t know where Kamal recorded this, but the sound quality is good enough to rival any of the big dogs out there.
The song itself is a little short and I would have liked a little more time with it to let it blossom and unfold – as I tend to prefer much longer tracks – but if this is just a taste of what’s to come in Morales’ upcoming album, then I look forward to a full plate of fun tracks to serenade my five senses when the full album releases in August.