Quick Hit Music That Makes You Feel Better

3 Song Intro to Artist: Tom Grennan

Quick hit music that makes you feel better.

A quick bio: Tom Grennan was born in Bedford in 1995 and for a long time, pursued a career in football, training with Luton Town, and having trials with Northampton and Aston Villa. At 18 he started doing gigs around London where he was eventually picked up by Insanity Records. So far he has released two albums, the most recent in March 2021, called Evering Road. The buzz about him started to grow when he featured with Chase & Status on their track All Goes Wrong, and he has also featured on the Artists for Grenfell cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water, originally recorded by Simon & Garfunkel.

Style: His style of music is usually attributed to an Indie Pop / Alternate Rock / Electronic Rock vibe, and the three songs that I will review are leaning more towards the later genres, in my opinion. These are the types of songs that you want to sing. They are energising, motivating and inspiring; the perfect type of music for running, Zumba or step classes. The rhythms are generally working to a four-beat bar, which is kindly regular, but the interesting layovers and use of gaps and sound spaces offers dance instructors plenty to work with. Personally, these are the types of songs I would LOVE to sing in front of fans. Imagine hearing hundreds or thousands of fans singing them back at you. Chills. Literal Chills. For now, I guess, I’ll just have to make do with singing them as I struggle up steep hills or in the shower.

3-song Review:

Found What I’ve Been Looking For: Album – Lighting Matches

Check out his Spotify and this is by and far his most popular song. Have a quick listen and it may seem pretty familiar to a few of you, that’s because it was featured as the title track on FIFA 18. Not a fan of FIFA?? Well, it got plenty of airtime in the years after, and features on A LOT of Spotify playlists. The song starts with some beautiful, tight reverb on an electric guitar. It introduces you to the main rhythm. The drums grow throughout and encourage you to tap your fingers and feet. Next thing you know, you’re breaking into a full blown, air solo as the break hits. Back-up vocals are a BIG part of Tom Grennan’s sound, and they echo his rough voice, offering soft harmonies and general power to the song. Someone, somewhere decided to pick this song as the FIFA 18 title track and boy do they deserve their pay. This song is about hunger, climbing a summit only to see another mountain in the distance that’s bigger, harder and going to be your next mission accomplished.

This is the Place: Album – Evering Road

Bam! Tom hits you with his vocals and you are hooked. This song is not hugely complicated lyrically, as you will hear Tom repeat the same lines in the bridge and the chorus, while the guitar grows, the drum deepens, and the hits come steady and fast. This is tight music, everything is hitting you at the same time, in a different way, and we can hear ambient electric keys, dubstep drums that grow into a more regular, military strike beat to match the quick strumming rhythm guitar. The title making line, “This is the place that I come to forget you” combined with the unified four beat hit from the guitar, bass, keys, and vocals is like getting hit by a four-punch combo from Jet Li. While the chorus threatens to overwhelm, the break uses a lack of sound to do the same. Singing alongside a silky bass shows the strength of his voice. This is a very well composed song that doesn’t hide his voice, choosing particular moments to show it off in all its glory.

Something Better: Album – Evering Road

Weird, funky, disjointed piano that sounds somewhat clanky and somehow genius. It is highly rhythmical and the fact that built a song around it speaks highly of the musical intelligence at work here. It does not have an obvious rhythm to work with, and quite frankly, reflects the lyrics perfectly. This is a song that is all about something not being right and yet realising that it is still the best thing for you. The tell-tale pauses from instruments show off his voice by letting it work alone, as well as building anticipation for the breaks. Listen closely and you will hear some subtle brass grow into the song, strengthening the second verse and bridge in time for the chorus. The drums offer steady rhythms with complimentary claps and by the end of the song, every instrument that has offered something comes together to wrap it up.