I remember watching an interview in which Burt Bacharach said writing a song that sounds fresh and original is the hardest thing in the world. He has pulled off this feat routinely in his songwriting, however. This challenge that Bacharach acknowledges came to mind yesterday as I listened to Makar's "I Can't Tell You To Stay" on KDHX. The band's blend of vocals and piano sounded instantly familiar yet original to me. I heard elements of such disparate tunes as Money Mark's "Pick Up The Pieces," Green Day's "Warning," and "Game Of Love" by Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders. As I listened, I thought, "I swear, I've heard this before--but not quite like this, and that's intriguing."
Kudos to Makar for pulling off a neat trick. Not every band can fuse seemingly unrelated genres into a captivating, accessible blend, but Makar nails this on "I Can't Tell You To Stay."
