Single Review: Running

After years making music constrained by labels and opinions, Lasair‘s musical approach is “genre fluid” and built from the inspiration he finds around him wherever it happens to come from. Rather than talk about his persona, Lasair prefers to let his music speak for him. In that spirit, let’s get straight to Running.

Opening with a modern synthy piano line and a warm swell, the intro is inviting and comforting to settle into. The verse vocals have a great blend. There’s a chemistry between Lasair and Finlae that feels natural and the rhythm of the lyrics sets up a gentle anticipation with small pauses before the last word of each line: “colours, drenched in your/ colours”.

The chorus melody is infectious, sweet and light. Sweeping outwards in sonic scope compared to the verse and welling up a feeling inside that’s somewhere between seeing the protagonists of a romcom have their meet-cute and watching them do the end scene kiss. That tonal quality matches the spirit of the song well; the lyrics “I can’t get enough of you” communicating that cloud nine feeling of a new love interest. Finlae makes it soar with the affectation she puts on the word “you”. The last chorus has a really beautiful overlay of the bridge vocals that make the song feel like it was building to that great moment all along. The two vocal sections interplay with each other really well.

Running is a wonderful example of a song with a powerful ability to override whatever you were feeling before listening to it. It seems to infect you with a gooey optimism every time you listen to that beautifully co-dependent chorus refrain.