Single Review: John Hall – “I Think of You”

Though not quite tasked with carrying the full load of the harmony on its own, there’s no understating the importance of John Hall’s six-string in the new single “I Think of You” this April. It should be said that for Hall, a talented pop singer, frills are always optional when he gets into the studio; he knows how to cultivate a compositional presence that transcends the limitations of the recording space, usually through rather humble means like tone and texture alone. He’s a thoughtful player and one who isn’t holding back from giving us everything he’s got in this latest single.

The rhythm behind the instrumentation in “I Think of You” has quite the wonderfully easy sensibility, and while it might not be as aggressive in shape as the melodic elements in the mix are, this minor contrast is just enough to give the entire track a homespun energy that is hard to find in the mainstream nowadays. I think it’s more than a little obvious that Hall is a detail-oriented artist, but all the same, he is not about to rub intricacy in our faces just for the sake of sounding like a sophisticated, post-millennium pop songwriter.

“I Think of You” is as far away from hook-centricity as this style of composing can get without slipping into the conventionalities of pop music, and it does this by maintaining a steady flow of catharsis from the lyrics that spill into the material rather than the other way around. I get the feeling that the verses and the harmonies framing them in this performance were born around the same time as opposed to one coming before the other, and as much as this might seem mundane to the unfamiliar, critics know that this feature is becoming harder and harder to come by in 2023.

I’d like to hear Hall collaborate with a similarly talented artist in the pop or folk genres soon, mostly just to see what it could draw out of his skillset beyond what we’ve heard him do here. There’s so much to be explored within the balladic contexts of a piece like this, and if put in the right hands – and with a slightly more experimental tempo – a collaborative remix of “I Think of You” might wind up bringing this man some of the mainstream attention he more than deserves at this stage of the game.

I think there’s a lot more for John Hall to explore within his sound, but right now, I think that anyone who listens to this present incarnation of “I Think of You” is going to walk away feeling satisfied with the pop sway he’s dishing out liberally in this latest release. At just over three and a half minutes in total length, this single is on the more moderate side among its contemporaries, but for what it shares about its creator, it’s a remarkably sleek effort that tells us a lot about the man behind the music. There’s more to come from this guy, and it doesn’t take more than a casual listen to understand as much.

Amanda Beeler