warren north - ​Game of Love

Warren North

​Game of Love
self-released; 2017

3.8 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Warren North is an artist from Philadelphia who recently released Game of Love. The biggest umbrella you could label his music as is pop. That being said each song has a distinctly different flavor.

North opens with the title track which sounded somewhere between a number of 80’s pop stars including INXS, Huey Lewis and the News and Robert Palmer. It’s not only the songwriting but also the production that was a hit of nostalgia being a young teenager in those years.

The song bursts with exuberance. North vocals sound great. I also thought the sax and the Peter Frampton sounding vocal effect worked really good in the song. The lyrics are pretty straight forward. He sings “When you run out of luck Once is not enough, and you're Losing in the game of love”.

My personal favorite track was “Cafe”. The song is a little more emotionally resonant with the lead piano backing up the vocals. I was actually reminded of band not from the 80’s on this one (although there were some 80’s elements as well). There was a band called Fountains of Wayne that this song has similarities to. The chorus is catchy and infectious. There is no denying that.

“She's Got a Hold on Me” is the most rock based and also in a number of ways the most poppy sounding of the batch. The horns are a big plus here. He closes with “Break the Mold” which sounding like a standard intimate singer/songwriter. “Break the Mold” felt the least defined to me and could easily get lumped in with many other songs because of that.

I thought North was strongest when he embraced some of the 80’s aesthetics. There are a lot of bands who embrace bands from that generation but it's not that often that you hear this particular niche.

I hope North comes out with a longer EP or album to really define his style in stone. It felt a bit elusive with these four song.

North is certainly one to keep an eye out for. In the meantime there is plenty to appreciate with these four songs. And make sure not to miss the video below.

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