Single Review: It’s All Over

Here we have the latest single from No Man’s Land, which is quite different indeed to the last one of theirs I reviewed, West Coast. That was heavily based on the piano, but here the keyboards are much far more restrained, with held-down organ chords as there is a far greater emphasis on vocals, harmonies and guitars. What we have here is a song which is looking way back in time to the Sixties, bringing together two of the great genres of that times, Motown and psychedelia. This is a young band, with three of the four currently at Wellington University, but there is a maturity to this which makes one think it is much older group. Hannah is singing much lower than I have heard before, yet she also allows her voice to lift, while the harmonies are simply delicious.

There is so much space in this arrangement that one can sit inside the music and rest for a while, as they use that as an additional instrument to have fun with, letting instruments fall away, vocals to rise and the key change is a delight. They are also not afraid to stop in the middle, take a breath and move on, so the listener is never quite sure where they are going to go with it except it is a delight from beginning to end. I think this is now their fourth single, so the question must be, when do we get the album? Pop, soul, psychedelia, this is made for radio yet has a real depth and balance.