Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Hughie Mac releases "Let’s Get Away” Single


URL: https://www.hughiemac.com/

It takes a very specific kind of singer to make a cover song feel like an original, and time and time again, the talented Hughie Mac proves more than adept at doing just that. In his brand new single “Let’s Get Away,” he dispenses a charismatic vocal from behind a tenderly-produced microphone that serves as our bridge from 2019 into the gilded age of midcentury bop. Here, and really with the entirety of what all who give Hughie Mac Sings Some Great Songs, Pt. 3 a spin this spring will discover in its enormous tracklist, Mac crushes us with his emotive singing style and finds a way to spellbind us with little more than his elegant voice and a simplistic backing band inside of nearly three minutes of play.

The instrumentation in this single is very brooding and emotional from the get-go; in more ways than one, Mac is holding all of the pieces in the jazzy backdrop together with his slick vocal, and making it so that the lyrics are the central flashpoint of all the action going on in the track. He’s front and center in the mix, but his singing doesn’t drown out the colorful piano melody that is framing his words and providing some fluidity to the somewhat rigid percussion. “Let’s Get Away” has a streamlined, radio-ready production value, but believe me – it’s hardly the artificially-faceted pop that you’ll commonly find lurking around the commercial side of your FM dial.


This track really captures the energy of Hughie Mac Sings Some Great Songs, Pt. 3 profoundly. Mac is never afraid to take on the challenges that come with covering some of them most important songs ever written in the history of pop music, and with “Let’s Get Away,” we get to experience the full scope of his vocal palate without the source material’s historical value clouding our analysis of the song. I’ve been a lifelong Sinatra fan, but I don’t necessarily think about him when I listen to this single. I’m taken aback by the lyricism and drawn into Mac’s web of melodic grooves without ever thinking about the story behind the song that’s being played for me in real-time. I’m not even close to kidding when I say that this is one of the most refined skills that any recording artist could ever hope to possess.

Say what you will about contemporary pop music, but as far as I’m concerned, Hughie Mac is doing more than a good job of keeping things interesting from the underground and beyond with songs like “Let’s Get Away.” We’re living in one of the most incredibly diverse times for music and the people who make it, and though there’s no shortage of smart young songwriters making a big impact in 2019, it’s guys like Mac who embody the spirit of pop better than anyone else on the planet, transcending age, race, gender and culture. He’s undyingly committed to his craft, and as a result of his devotion, we’re treated to some of the strongest musicality we’re heard since the original version of this song first saw release so long ago.


Joshua Beach

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