Bruno Major's Latest Is a Resoundingly Sensual "Old Fashioned" Love Number
Photo: Max Knight
As Valentine's Day chocolate is left to melt on store aisles and countertops across the world, the finest gift is not found in discounted chocolate but the serenely sensual soundscapes of one Bruno Major. The English talent melted hearts across the world with his impressive debut album, A Song For Every Moon, which saw Major compiling a phenomenal kaleidoscopic album out of a self-imposed task to release one song a month. Now, the profound artist is back with his first taste of music since his striking 2017 debut, and it is a love song for the ages.
"Old Fashioned" has all the enveloping warmth of the cocktail and all of the cherished intimacy of a timeworn love number. While people all too often attempt to distance themselves from and disavow the associated clichés of love, Major revels in the resounding intimacy of such clichés. "I know it's not very cool/ Standing here serenading like a fool/ But I don't care/ I'll gladly be a fool for you," he confesses in the opening moments of "Old Fashioned." Major carries this heart-striking ethos with him through a slow-burning soundscape permeated by breathy coos and delicate surges in instrumentation.
On creating the intimate world of "Old Fashioned" with longtime collaborator Phairo and co-writer Dan McDougall, Major shared,
"It was one of the first songs I ever wrote, and it is one of the songs that I am most proud of. Dan and I wrote it hungover one morning in our underwear on the old piano in my kitchen. Phairo brought something really special to this one, with maybe one of my favorite beats he's made so far…it's the first song I've ever released that was recorded in an actual studio instead of my kitchen or Phairo's garden shed."
The love and sonics Major manages to encapsulate in "Old Fashioned" relish in finding the sparks of joy that come from introducing the novel into the familiar. Yes, this is a classic, likely lasting love number, but the exceptional thing Major has done here is giving the time-honored love song a breath of fresh air.
Listen to "Old Fashioned" below:
For more from Bruno Major, revisit our rooftop performance with the romantic English talent below: