MICK N PHIL: 'ONE' Single release.

BlaKSmith Creatives Song review: MICK N PHIL – “ONE”

So just a brief introduction into who this multi-talented duo group are:

Musicians and twin brothers, Mick N Phil “have a passion for capturing raw emotion within song writing and being able to connect with their audience through real life topic’s, they also have a raw acoustic sound that they have developed through the years’. From quirky guitar work, to gut wrenching lyrics and second to none live shows’, this is a duo not to be missed when they roll through town.”

Working with Mick N Phil now for the second time, I am honestly so thrilled to be doing a review for their most recent release; ‘ONE’ as I feel a personal connection to these lyrics. This country-genre track has some elements of both rock and pop, if you are hearing what I am hearing. If you are looking for that ‘unity’ type track, that little bit of inspiration/hope for not only our society, but our small local music community, you have found it.

Okay FIRST, before we go into lyrical detail and the powers/emotions of this song. I need you to think of 3 main songs, which the lil musical wires in my head highlighted to me - straight away with reference to melody and message. Amma need you to picture the vibration waves of each element, it sets the emotional tone for this song and the visuals that I can imagine.

These influences I feel make the track that little bit more hype, we love some inspiration.

1- Titanium, David Guetta ft. Sia. – OPENING MELODY

2- Waka Waka: This time for Africa, Shakira. – GENERAL MESSAGE.

3- Sweet Child of mine, Guns ‘N’ Roses. – OUTRO/CLOSING GUITAR RIFF/MELODY. (2.00 – 2.13- 2.34 MINS especially. But you can hear the inspiration throughout the full song.

“ONE” is about equality, a force of society, compassion, effort, and acknowledgement. And it also gets pretty deep when you apply these lyrics (appropriately) to our current world events.

My main key points and my favourite elements:

Beginning: The intro has nice easy instruments and a smooth intro to the opening lyrics. The guitar riff isn’t too heavy which fits beautifully with this country genre.

Lyrics are straight to the point yet fluffed up (sugar coated). This is what makes the song easy to adjust to most situations and events. You could say the lyrics are universal and so easy to relate to. Literally everything this world is experiencing right now the main solution can be summed up in this song.

Acoustic and Electric Guitar – Unmatched cord arrangement and melody. You can hear how precisely each instrument melody has been composed and carefully placed side by side for the best effect. Coming from a listener and an inexperienced guitarist, its hard to try and differentiate a good melody when its surrounded by different instruments. Mick N Phil have managed to create 2 solid melodies that are similar yet so obviously different. Which is hard to explain but easy enough to hear, I recommend listening with a set of headphones for the best sound. (Not ear plugs, the big ones)

Vocals: are super strong – not pitchy and each word delivered precisely and effectively. The vocal growl (this is bevs’ own term, you vocalists will know what I mean) Only adds to the power if the lyrics. Delivery is key with song like this, if you want the message to be put across clearly the delivery of emotions must match. And they done did just that.

Beautiful breaks/instrumentals. Panning has been panned to perfection shall we say. I can’t hear any unevenness and there is a beautiful light echo on all the vocals, which BTW is very difficult to get right. Panning and echo volumes can either make or break a song, having your voice sound flat or full. These vocals are full.

Drums and Piano are lighter/faint but at some points come in louder making it more effective, which works very well. Sometimes you need something light in the background like panning or an echo effect - but nothing can compare to a classic piano backing track. This one you need to really listen for if you want to hear it individually but like I said, the drums and piano work beautifully with the lighter sound on this one.

Lastly, the last verse/outro ends on a cliff hanger (slow fade down, not a fade-out, but a fade down) which I really like.

This song fits into everything: Mental Health issues, Racism (BLM), Sexism, Discrimination, or just general life issues. Sometimes we need a reminder that its harder to look back and dwell on the past than it is to count your blessing, learn from your mistakes and lessons and build from there. You cannot change the past, but you can re-create the future.

Okay let us break it down.

V.1

“Look in the mirror, what do you see. Insecurities.

We all want what we see on the TV.”

This opening sentence immediately sets the tone of the song. Wanting what we cannot have and under appreciating what we do have. We are a society who rely on our social medias and whatever images we see plastered on the television. Being female, I am going to use the most common references/example there is. The Kardashian brand, this is one thing I know most girls (not all, but most) look up to. We look at ourselves in the mirrors and only pick out our insecurities or at least what we perceive as insecurities, yet are so keen to look to these girls and convince ourselves that things like: their skin/hair are so naturally and purely perfect. You cannot Photoshop real life. (not faulting their work ethic, that is incomparable)

What we see on TV, is what creates our insecurities.

“There is more to me, than what you see.

I got a heart and soul, deep inside of me.”

This though. Plain and simple, people look without searching and judge without reason. There is more to a book than its cover, there is more to a song than its hook, therefor there is more to a person than their display images. We do not search for soul purposes like we used to, we do not search for a heart & soul anymore. When there is SO MUCH MORE TO LIFE.

We perfect what we can see and neglect what we cannot. Why?

Why don’t we consider our mental well-being, our societies well-being and development just as important? The whole world Is fu**ed up, but real changes start small and impact the most. It is the ripple effect, one wave starts, and we all become ONE.

CHORUS:

Gotta be strong, Lets erase the lines that divides us all.

Can’t go back, we can go on, As ONE.

LET’S GET TO IT, Shortest sentences throughout the full song yet have the most impact. Now with the chorus in particular, I relate this most to racism and our current situation of BLACK LIVES MATTER. Gotta be strong, lets erase the line that divides us all. This is self-explanatory but amma go ahead and explain it anyway from my personal interpretation. Sometimes it’s hard to accept what type of systematic control you have fell into, it’s hard to admit to yourself that you were once adding to the problem of racism. But once you come to that realisation and accept your thoughts can change – you become stronger as an individual which in turn make us stronger as a collective. Makes us strong enough to fight against what we have been brainwashed to believe, the line's that not only divided us as a nation - but divided us as humans and our pure, loving instincts from our everyday actions. Again, I want to highlight these lyrics are universal and can be interpreted in anyway, this is what I hear and feel.

V.2

Everywhere I go, all I see – minorities.

Saying all we need is inner peace from society.

This is legit all we ever see anywhere, if you would just stop to look and acknowledge the hurt that goes on around us. I am very fortunate to be a part of the generation who questions everything. Some see this as a bad thing but what is scarier than the unknown? Minority groups make up our societies and make up most of our public protests - searching for reassurance and clarity that the peace that we are searching, for does exist somewhere, within someONE. We have done a lot of soul searching during this pandemic, but have we truly found our inner peace?

Cause who you are, who you’re not, who you ought to be.

Stand up tall, cast it all, break down these walls.

This second half talks about the prejudice (you could say) some of us face because were expected to be who society wants us to be, or what our stereotypes are like.

You should be who you are, be everything that you are not and avoid being what/who you are expected to be. Do not live up-to other people standards just to judge someone who is not up to yours, we are all human, we are all the same.

Stand up tall, cast it all and break down these walls. We should be doing just that, standing up for what we believe in, casting off the chains of negative views and breaking down the walls (literally) that block us from being a human society. That block us from being ONE.

Bridge/Outro:

We’re not different, we’re all the same. Passengers on the same train.

We’re not different, we’re all the same. We all feel pain.

For me, not only are closing lyrics meaningful but it is the tone and emotion you hear from the vocals. I feel this song was written or recorded at a very crucial time, as the power in the voice shows how heartfelt the lyrics really are. Its perfection in a way that is shown through the delivery, to help us understand how much this means to the writer.

CHORUS:

Gotta be strong, Lets erase the lines that divides us all.

Can’t go back, we can go on, As ONE.”

Okay this last chorus, its delivery is what makes it effective. It is sung lightly and with a stripped back melody behind it. Lastly it is left on what I would describe as a cliff hanger, just as the lyrics are coming to an end - you here the backing track fade slowly then the track ends abruptly on the “Can’t go back, we can go on as ONE”, it is too late for us to turn back and change what has been done, but we can move on together and build as a collective, as a society, as ONE.

A massive congratulations to the music duo, their honesty and true emotions came through. Each element is effective individually and put together it is transcending. Be sure to keep an eye out for their next moves and releases!

Link to their socials and their song on streaming sites:

INSTAGRAM:

FACEBOOK:

‘ONE’ single (APPLE music link):

‘ONE’ single (SPOTIFY music link):