Lopez Blogs

Simon Curtis ~ RΔ Sampler:

That Simon Curtis ever appeared in anything as cheery and upbeat as Spectacular remains somewhat of a miracle. You'll be no doubt hard pushed to find songs like On The Wings Of A Dream or Things We Do For Love on his forthcoming album "RΔ". Instead you might want to give Simon a hug, some milk and a cookie and tell him it will all be alright as he goes back to some of the dark territory mined on his criminally unreleased Alter Boy album. The new songs got a big boost this week by being featured in Billboard and an exclusive sampler is still available to listen to on that site (click here). All four tracks present some signature Simon trademarks that have become synonymous with his music, while gearing things up to keep his sound current and relevant. I'm assuming once again he's kept the Jadion-Curtis dream team going for these tracks. Don't Dance is seemingly a declaration of independence as he decries the onslaught of songs insisting we get on the dancefloor; Enemy is a hugely industrial sounding song with the intro (on the sampler anyway) chanting monotone "don't let me be your enemy"... I really like the drawn out en-urr-me and the structure of the sentence is really interesting as it places the blame squarely on the other purpose. It tells us this person has created this situation - almost like a sequel to the blistering Rochella Danishei duet Michelle. My fave of the tracks comes next - Pit of Vipers. It's a regimented beat (that worked brilliantly on Left Right Left) that propels the song, yet behind this is a kinky little synth riff and a down & dirty vocal melody from the man himself. Knowing what a fan of Harry Potter young master Curtis is, i can't help but wonder if the "slithering" in the song may also work as "Slytherin"? Certainly, lyrically it works whether you are thinking mean girls or Hogwarts. Dying for this track to be released... Finally, we get the oft previewed live Laser Guns Up. I have to say i was (GASP) not thrilled with the live version of this track when I first heard it. However, shaky youtubes aren't always the best barometer of quality and I can't help but feel Simon has created a defining tune here that has a catchphrase to it and could take off the same way as I Gotta Feeling or Bad Romance. Exciting times ahead and I'm eager for Simon to make some real money from his music and take things to the next level...