Artists today are finding more and more ways to flaunt their vocal talents as each day passes. No longer is being considered a “gifted vocalist” restricted to belting on ballads and/or high-register passages; today’s landscape offers so much more in the way vocalists are able to communicate a sense of emotional weight and dynamic register alike in their performance.
This unfounded approach is nestled quite comfortably within the facets of pop music’s intersection with ambient electronica — a style found amongst the greater online music scene. Performers inside this genre tend to blend their angst-filled vocals with a telling sense of place over whatever instrumental is being given to them, using their voice itself as an emotional component next to the often spacious and ethereal setting that the beat presents.
For arguably one of the most effectively ideal examples of this approach in full effect, look no further than Orchid and Kiryano’s recent collaborative effort “Focus.” These two – being as experienced within this realm as they are to this point – exemplify all there is to know about this nuanced manner of music in one small package here, but certainly a remarkable one at that.
Ddertbag’s masterful instrumental here does all it needs to in setting an optimal scene for this track to take place within. The sheer power that the beat’s low end holds is seamlessly balanced with the soaring and even catchy synth riffs that move in and out of the mix throughout the track’s entire runtime.
But the ways in which both Orchid and Kiryano go above and beyond with their vocal contributions here is the real main course. Together these two create a magical experience that is rich with lyrical density and, of course, exceptional vocal leads all the same. Orchid’s leading performance shifts from a solemn lower register to their typically-concentrated highest of high reaches as the song progresses. Kiryano enters the fray towards the middle of the track with a performance of their own that takes the calculated tendencies of Orchid’s low register singing and combines them with their own crisp high vocals — all together creating a dynamic presence between the two that flaunts their chemistry at an extremely apparent level.
The experience that these two were able to create with this single not only represents all there is to know about their particular place within online music today, but it also simply serves as an outstanding and memorable cut completely on its own — detached from any sort of outside reason. Everyone involved with this track is as elevated as can be when it comes to the landscape they all operate in, and collaborative offerings at this level of quality just prove that they have quite the leg up compared to even their closest contemporaries.