Alias Wayne “Love One Another” (SINGLE)

Ranzel X Kendrick has a lot of attributes going for him as an artist, and in the new single from his Alias Wayne project, bluntly titled “Love One Another,” he brings his artistic chemistry into the studio for anyone who appreciates quality folk-pop to get excited about. There’s always a challenge in making a song feel and sound like something that has a message to it, but if this player can prove anything in this track, it’s that such a task goes a lot better when you’ve got someone with an above-average IQ in creating gorgeous harmonies. There’s a lot more to the complexities that make this a compelling new single for fans of the pastoral sound, but all in all, they do the heroes of this genre proud, and that’s not an easy feat.

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When he’s singing, Alias Wayne isn’t afraid to show us the kind of emotion that some of his contemporaries would never be able to bear to the audience without surrendering a lot more virtuosity in the arrangement. Because there are no distractions here, no over-the-top showings of strength nor muscular instrumental breakdowns that lead us into another interpretation of the narrative at hand, the lyrics and the voice bringing them to the audience can stand on their own in a way most verses never can. This, if anything, is the purest way that anyone could have done this piece, which is a testament in itself to how seriously this musician is taking the creation of his new single.

The rhythm section in the mix doesn’t give up for a second, but instead picks up some steam as we near the conclusion of the song, which isn’t something that you’re going to hear in a lot of songs like “Love One Another.” There’s a general sense of urgency that Alias Wayne wants to capitalize on, and whether it’s the thrust of the percussion or the nuanced buffering that the bassline is giving us on the backend of the mix, we’re getting as much power out of this performance as one could likely expect to hear out of something presented on the live stage. The mild rock elements buried within the aesthetical compounds in this single are something I want Alias Wayne to explore more in the future, but for now, he offers himself as a troubadour capable of immense emotional depth in multiple departments here.

APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/love-one-another/1656092422?i=1656092423

There aren’t many indie cuts from any genre that are as forthcoming in terms of artistic personality as “Love One Another” is, and that’s saying a lot about who its star performer is. Ranzel X Kendrick is someone who comes off as being a lot more casual than he is calculated, but the style of his play is the exact opposite. It’s going to take some time to get to know who he is, but if there’s a decent place to start in that acquaintanceship, it is undisputedly “Love One Another.” Folk-rock is back with a vengeance, and this is a prime example of its influence in producing something brilliant.

Mark Druery