It’s always empowering to watch creativity and engagement, and JP Riley’s latest single The Fog is the very credible outcome of an experiment where he asked people to send him sounds that he could weave into a song. I’m old and distant enough to pack the work into a generalisation with the term ‘electronic trickery’ rather than worry about the practical difficulties of different sound quality, timings and speed.

In terms of the track, there’s a nice crisp, slightly funkish indie sound to this track. Not to overkill comparisons, but I get something of a vibe that fans of Larkins, Alt J or The Night Cafe might get into.  Overlaid above the tune are sensitive and slightly hesitant sounding vocals from JP Riley which gives a different layer and direction to the song. I like JP Riley’s vocals here as they are solid and distinctive.

I feel the song theme to be around using the empowering strength of love to find a direction out from the general noise, confusion and everyday mire of life. Overall the track feels to me like it’s a skimming stone which gracefully bounces above the water several times. We all know the stone will descend elegantly back into the deep at some point, but it has flown, and one day it will find another skilled hand and will fly again.

JP Riley on his socials has spoken about the buzz of asking for and getting so many different sounds to work with, and then developing his skills to meld them into a song. That sense of working together to be stronger shines through.

Chris R

* Images are taken from JP Riley’s social media.