Single Review: David Ramirez – Time
Header photo by Stefanie Vinsel
American folk rocker David Ramirez has just released a stunning new single, the third from his forthcoming LP ‘We’re Not Going Anywhere’. The new song, called ‘Time’, is set to feature as the opening track on the album and follows previous singles ‘Watching from a Distance’ and ‘Twins’. (You can watch the promo video for the politically-charged ‘Twins’, which juxtaposes lyrics about contemporary America with black-and-white film footage from around WWII, right here).
‘Time’ starts off, straightforwardly enough, as a piano ballad with stark, country-tinged realism in the opening lines, “who wants to grab a drink tonight? / I know it’s only Tuesday and you gotta work tomorrow”. But the prevailing synth ostinato quickly indicates a change of palette from Ramirez’s typical alt-country instrumental arrangements, with the expected wailing guitars taking a momentary back seat. This very clever instrumentation allows the sparkle of the keyboard sounds to illustrate Ramirez’s dizzying bridge section lyrics: “round and round, I’m getting busy / one more round please, let’s keep this fuzzy / I hear a tick-tock, can you tell me is he trying to mock / it’s all been a bit blurry for some time now.”
Despite the apparent shift in musical direction, Ramirez hasn’t lost sight of what worked well on his previous album ‘Fables’, specifically, the combination of his sharply poignant lyrics and the raw emotion his vocal delivery. This song’s simple, echoing chorus “I got nothing but time” works beautifully in Ramirez’ drawling baritone, conveying a deeper sense of hidden desperation with every repeat. Like so many of Ramirez’ previous songs, ‘Time’ is an emotionally-challenging listen, but it’s absolutely worth the lingering heartache it evokes.
9/10
David Ramirez’ fourth studio album ‘We’re Not Going Anywhere’ is due for release on the 8th of September via Thirty Tigers / Sweetworld. You can read TGTF’s past live coverage of David Ramirez, including a review from SXSW 2017 back in March, by clicking here.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC0TTi-GVeI[/youtube]
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