Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
There aren’t very many songwriters alive today that can lay as much of a claim to the current state of pop music as those who have been driving forth the best parts of the American underground in recent years can, and in Marlon Davis’ “Handyman,” we get to experience the full impact of a prolific performer’s influence through the work of a truly unique rising star out of the underground.
Marlon Davis sounds like a man who can be issuing one tour de force after another in the realm of the recording world, with his most recent release raking in some of the strongest response this kind of crossover has got so far, and if you’re looking to understand why he’s got the reputation for making hits as he does, you’ll want to hear his most recent single in “Handyman.” Packed with the genuinely haunting harmonic textures that have become synonymous with crossover pop (though not quite identical), this is a song that shows us how much two aesthetics can take from one another without ever copying a single note.
Davis is careful to avoid a lot of the grandiosities that have plagued his peers in this single, and his anti-excessive approach to the arrangement in particular works brilliantly for this material. The bassline has little to no edge, which makes it much easier for us to feel the depth of the percussion’s groove without ever absorbing the bottom-end tones more than we want to. The mix favors the vocal at the front of the track, but the melodies get just as much love from the EQ when the chorus falls into place.
Every element of the song has been structured to keep us on the edge of our seats, constantly wondering what’s going to come next, and while it makes for a milder rollercoaster in “Handyman” than it does for other tracks a similar style and concept, it’s an endearing effect that I haven’t encountered a lot outside of Marlon Davis’ work in 2023. He wanted us to feel every inch of sonic intensity he could muster here, but in doing so, he wanted to steer clear of aesthetical overindulgence at the same time.
I had a lot of expectations coming into my review of “Handyman,” but I’m happy to say that Davis surpassed all of them with the sublimely appealing work that he released here. He’s growing into his sound beautifully, and though he isn’t the most experimental artist on the block right now, he’s showing us that he’s not afraid to roll the dice a little bit and try things that other artists in the underground and mainstream alike just wouldn’t be comfortable doing. Others before him might have set the gold standard decades ago, but for Marlon Davis, trying to reach the same commercial pedigree his heroes did isn’t even the goal; instead, it’s merely trying to inspire people in the same way that his influences always have. It’s commendable, whether you’re a fan of his work or simply a casual listener the same.
Rudy Warmack
