Sometimes, all you want to hear is a bit of sunshine. And as the upbeat, playful single goes, there’s a dire shortage in the charts and beyond at the moment.
Hoping to change all that are The Voluntary Butler Scheme (TVBS) with their new release ‘Honey in the Gravel Mixture.’ Cheery, brimming with positivity and zeal, this happy little tune is just what everybody needs after what was a torrid winter.
When it comes to one-man bands, Rob Jones is a venerable tour-de-force. The brains, brawn and instrumentalist behind TVBS, his third album A Million Ways to Make Gold is on its way later this month. It’s from this record that the new single comes and, as far as previews go, there are few better to lead the way for a fully-fledged release.
Easy listening and cheerful aren’t words that normally describe a lot of music in the modern age but that’s exactly what ‘Honey in the Gravel Mixture’ is. Featuring a wonderful chorus of trumpets, acoustic guitar and just the right level of percussion, Jones manages to infuse a little bit of magic into the digitally encoded bits of the song.
The lyrics are spellbinding and their gentle delivery is pitch perfect. You can almost feel the dark clouds rolling away as the track wears on. Much like the Beautiful South at their playful best, Jones and the single offer up a positive, energising look on the world. And who doesn’t need that sort of boost at this time of year.
Coming out just in time for the spring lead in to summer, ‘Honey in the Gravel Mixture’ from album A Million Ways To Make Gold, has the right qualities to be a mainstay for 2014. The right mixture of upbeat, inspiring lyricism and delivery, it could be a big winner for the rest of the year.