Artist To Check Out: Rocky Nti - 'Reflections' (Single)

The world of a music blogger sees us inundated with a vast amount of new musical discoveries on a daily basis. Most of which is actually of  high quality and worthy of featuring. But how do we narrow it down when there's not enough hours in the day, or not enough hands to cover everything we want to?

We learn to act very quickly with our ears. More often than not we make firm and fast judgements. When time is not on our side, we decide if we like something within the first few seconds of listening. Those brief introductory seconds can be make or break. That's how quickly it takes any listener to fall in love with a record and Rocky Nti knows this.

'Reflections' is one of those tracks that opens with an extremely catchy hook that has you comfortably sold well within the first 10 seconds.  You know the song is of an anthemic proportion even before the vocals kick in. It doesn't wait until the mid-way mark or final quarter to rouse its listener - Rocky Nti lights a fire under his listener from the start.

There's something familiar within the pulsating indie/rock 'n' roll guitar lines and crashing cymbals, but there's added electronic signatures in its production that takes the track to a whole different level. Mixing melodic, sing-along vocal hooks and invective, rapid bouts of spoken word - the narrator in this piece is angry at no-one but themselves and their own reflection.

However, as largely antipathetic the tone is, there's notably gentler elements of instrumentation that gracefully peer out through the rollicking layers. Perhaps as a sobering reminder to go a little bit easier on yourself   This softer side is also visible in the encouraging  lyrics, "yeah we'll be alright, yeah we'll both make it through" - a resolution that things will get better.

Words of Karla Harris