“Breakdown” – Black Gold

3 stars (out of 5)

0

This is the first single from the Brooklyn duo Black Gold’s debut album “Rush” (to be reviewed later) and, as you would expect, is a pretty good example of what the band are all about. The single is edited much more tightly than the album version for radio play although this doesn’t really work in this case. The atmospheric piano intro which builds up as the bass comes in on the album version is lost as the 4 bars of piano and bass lead straight in to the vocal.

Singer Eric Ronick is working at the top end of his vocal range on this song, which emphasises the breathy. ethereal quality of his voice and the subject matter of the song which, you guessed it, is someone having a breakdown. The verse is driven along by the rhythm section, particularly the drums and builds up to a chorus where all of the instruments kick in to reinforce the breakdown message.

As a sampler for the band and the album, which the first single usually is, this is pretty good; it gives you a good idea of what the band’s about while still holding back the best for later. This isn’t the strongest song on the album by a long way; there are at least 2 songs which are much better, catchier and more commercial and will probably do better as singles. It’s not a bad song, but there is so much more to come.

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