“Louisiana Voodoo (Featuring Tony Joe White)” by the Mark
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“LOUISIANA VOODOO (FEATURING TONY JOE WHITE)” BY THE MARK In the past few years, Americana has seen a dramatic increase in global interest, but few of the international recording artists I’ve heard in recent months have given it the spin The Mark is with his new single “Louisiana Voodoo (featuring Tony Joe White)” at the moment. Bucolic influences aren’t forced to the surface in this piece but instead made to simmer and cultivate through a carefully developed lyrical narrative in the song referencing both blues and folk aesthetics rather liberally. The instrumentation itself is alternative soft rock done right, but in all fairness, trying to establish a proper genre branding for The Mark’s sound isn’t nearly as easy as falling in love with his unique style of experimentation is. You can’t make “Louisiana Voodoo” work as well as it does without the moderate daggers White issues with his guitar, and when interwoven with The Mark’s natural vocal abilities, we get a smoky harmony in this song that could easily forge the centerpiece for an entire album. It’s evident from the start that these are two players more than well-versed in pop songwriting, but they aren’t sticking to the rulebook exclusively. With a basic structure to act as a template, these two players can colorize the music with as much bravado as they see fit (and believe me, they do). This mix gives me the feeling that a hands-off production style was critical to delivering “Louisiana Voodoo” as authentically as possible, which isn’t to suggest that The Mark is somehow shortchanging us on pop polish in this performance. Perhaps it’s just not possible to give us the same swaggering, southern-style charisma from a Netherlands-based singer/songwriter without getting as barebones with the finishing as he does here, but all the same, we never have to question if another recipe would have been successful for this track – the version we’re gifted with is more than tasty enough. The rhythm section does its part to give The Mark and Tony Joe White a nice groove to bounce their melodic wizardry off of, and I would even go so far as to say that their dedication to the beat is as important a component of the hook as anything we’re getting from the guitar and vocal. There were no slackers in the studio when this song was recorded, and whether you’re new to these players or have been keeping up with the former since he dropped the breakout single “Back Home to You,” that’s easy to recognize. Anyone who has been left longing for a bit of simplistic pop wonderment filtered through the lens of new era Americana will especially appreciate what The Mark and his guitar-wielding counterpart have pulled off in “Louisiana Voodoo,” and moreover, the entirety of the new EP Floating Downstream as well. This song makes the record a can’t-miss release for soft rock buffs and indie devotees of all stripes, but if it can connect with a college radio-based audience over the summer, I think it’s going to launch The Mark into a new plane of respect from one side of the Atlantic to the other. Garth Thomas The Mark “Louisiana Voodoo” In his new single “Louisiana Voodoo” alongside Tony Joe White, The Netherlands’ own The Mark flirts with the softer side of Americana while increasing the depth of his harmonies, making use of the skillful guitarist he’s accompanied by for far more than a master of the backdrop. The Mark has a voice that could do a lot all by itself, even without any of the bells and whistle you’re going to uncover when listening to even a fraction of “Louisiana Voodoo” this month, but he isn’t made to stretch himself thin as a vocalist here at all – quite the opposite actually. He’s able to let his hair down and allow for the groove to do a lot of the heavy lifting for him, which in turn allows for both his singing and the mild shredding White does to shine like the rare diamonds their contributions really are. Tony Joe White wasn’t a guitarist I was listening to before getting into this song, but considering the show he puts on here, I’m surprised he hasn’t attained an even greater reputation across the industry in general. He’s got a delicate way about his playing that doesn’t negate any of the muscularity he can throw around whenever he wants to – such as in the climactic chorus of “Louisiana Voodoo” – and while it challenges The Mark to keep up with the pace of his play on more than a couple of occasions, neither player overstates their presence more than they should. Now for the real bread and butter of this song – The Mark’s vocal. Though the beat seems to demand a lot more gusto out of him as he approaches the chorus, he lays off the gas and puts his melody on cruise control, thus creating an atmospheric, almost intentionally lazy lust within his harmony that just begs for us to embrace its chill vibe. He’s so indulgent with his voice, and yet I’m inclined to stay in the most cathartic of moments in this single just to hear him passively marry rhythm and rhyme together in one perfect union. Poppy but not saccharine, this could be just the song to win him a following on American radio much as he’s already earned in his native country. If this is just a sneak preview of what The Mark’s first proper full-length is going to sound like, I don’t think he’s going to have a tough time sustaining his present momentum throughout the rest of the 2020s at all. “Louisiana Voodoo” is a collaboration, but it’s focused on the potential of its star singer more than it is his connective attitude when brought to work with someone who shares his love of the music. I want to hear what he can do with more of this Americana-tinged content before the year is out, but even if he waits as long as he did after “Back Home to You” to record a follow-up, you can bet I won’t be missing it for anything. Claire Uebelacker The Mark – “Floating Downstream” (LP) There’s an exciting unorthodox energy that permeates on “Louisiana Voodoo”, the single by The Mark (real name Mark Shravan) which features Tony Joe White. Schraven, a Dutch singer/songwriter has certainly been busy over the years, and between touring Europe, the US, and The Netherlands he now finds himself teamed up with the aide of the John Fogerty band, Richie Furay (of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acclaim) and Grammy-winning producer Darcy Proper. The result of this assortment of talent is present in “Lousiana Voodoo” which is a lot of uncertain terms that can either be read as falling under the spell of someone you want, or someone who wants you, for better or worse. There’s a fair share of ambiguity in the songwriting, helped by the fact that Schraven really knows how to craft some evocative imagery alongside some very memorable hooks, this track is no exception. Schraven has gone on record saying that in his past as a songwriter, he’s written many somber songs, but is not trying to balance out with more uplifting if not slightly tongue-in-cheek morbid undertones in his work, and this is a prime example. With the sways into the minor key segments on the track, it can certainly sound almost like a warning with the way he utters the phrase “Dangerous games” like an echo-y warning. Production-wise, it’s a very straightforward affair. An assortment of electric and semi-acoustic sounding strings with a stable percussion that definitely centers the work. It’s not a flashy piece of work, and I think that lends itself well to the slightly subversive nature of how seemingly dark teasing the lyrics and sound are but have these bright pockets of excitability. It’s a very relatable song that comes from a genuine place, there’s no doubt about that. I wish there were a few more stylistic flairs to the track, it can be a little rigid in its structure and I think in parts it can be a disservice to Schraven’s incredibly catchy and hyper expressionistic lyrics, but maybe it’s better that it allows us to truly focus on the power of his vocals. The sound itself is also enjoyably difficult to pin down as one thing, which I always enjoy since the dismantling of arbitrary genres I think is much needed in a current world where music is evolving faster than we can keep up with. It has this distinct old-school feel with the instrumentation, but the production and mixing are very contemporary and incredibly well handled. It has shades of almost country/bluegrass influences, but also feels kind of indebted to old-school pop music. Schraven is an unabashed Elvis fan, and you can certainly hear shades of it in the structure and even little vocal flourishes that Schraven performs with, but it never feels like it’s a song that’s a slave to what Schraven likes as a fan. Incredible distinct and a welcome reprise from the out and out doom and gloom music that’s so popular now, it’s a spell of a song to be easily transfixed by.