Single Review: Here To Help

Local Tauranga DJ and Producer Louis Ross has created a new song Here to Help to bring awareness to mental health issues ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week. After losing his father and Grandma within a few months of each other and navigating his way through loss and grief, Louis is combining his own mental health struggles with his love of music to help others.  Louis started writing Here to Help, to let people know that they aren’t alone, that there is help out there, and that they have people they can turn to whenever they need it.

The beat really moves you and brings your mood up.  There are some synths covered in reverb in the back which almost give a nod to the sound from early Shapeshifter tracks.  Louis is a 25-year-old DJ and producer at the time of this writing and with the sound, feel and overall quality of the track, there is a lot to enjoy.  For one, it sounds fantastic.  The grooving bass line, the drum feel, synths and saxophone work well together in creating a sense of moving up and on from whatever is happening in your life at the time.  And the vocal production is clear, in all cases of rap and singing.  The track Here to Help features rappers Sunshine Ted and Zap, along with singer Lisa Westerby and Matt Bizzle provides some beautiful saxophone playing that weaves through the rap in the verses.  It does feel at times that the saxophone feels busy in the verses where my focus should be squarely on the lyrics and vocals, but overall there is still dynamics there to give changes to the verse and the chorus.  As the song uses the same set of chords throughout, having these sections stand out by leaving instruments out of them allows for the chorus to open up more.  This definitely happens in the second verse.

Overall, Louis knows what he is doing and has a great team behind him here with a strong song and a powerful message.