Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
If there’s ever been a demand for feel-good music in the industry, it’s now. With so much discord and strife dominating the eleven o’clock news and our daily lives, RJ’s Latest Arrival and Slum Village know they don’t have to do much to give the world just the kind of pick-me-up we’ve all been aching for amid endless social chaos; that said, they’re not giving us the bare minimum in their new single “One Step At A Time.” Rather than sticking with the tried and true in their genre, RJ’s Latest Arrival and Slum Village are going much bolder with the harmonies that spark their latest release to life, arguably illustrating the very reason why music has always been the great uniting force it always has been.
There’s a lot of talk about the gloom of contemporary pop, but on the flip side, R&B players like these cats have mostly been committed to fostering a positive message in their songcraft throughout their careers, and in this sense, “One Step At A Time” really falls in line with the model their peers have been building up on both sides of the dial lately. That said, the originality in this piece has much more to do with execution than it does aesthetics, which is intriguing because, while they can appeal to the masses with their familiar artistic profile, they’re ultimately making whatever material they perform their own through personality rather than pomp. That gets you pretty far with most music buffs these days, myself included.
The vocal harmonies in “One Step At A Time” are reason enough to spend an afternoon with this track, and I like that, despite their relatively minimalistic presence in the lead-in to the chorus, they swell to a size the instrumentation could only pray to resemble upon reaching the climax. The connection these players have is familial and unbreakable, and although it’s affectionately coming to us in this single, I have to wonder just how powerful it would be to hear them perform live and in person sometime soon. If this is just a sample of what they can do when they’re firing on all cylinders, their stage work could wind up warranting a live record ASAP.
I adore this new look for RJ’s Latest Arrival and Slum Village, and the growth they’ve experienced since the last time I listened to their music is undeniable no matter the angle we’re looking at their style from. One of the biggest elements holding back quality players from reaching their mainstream potential is a hesitance to try improving upon an already enjoyable product, but that isn’t a problem for RJ’s Latest Arrival or Slum Village. They show us in “One Step At A Time” that they’ve got a nothing-to-lose mentality about making incredible music, and they’re putting their talents to use in this single like no other collaborators I’ve listened to in any genre of music over the past few months. “One Step At A Time” is a winner, and I don’t think it’s going to be the last headline-maker these acts offer us.
Scottie Carlito
