Nick Campbell Destroys
Fancy Jeans
Southern California native Nick Campbell is well known within the ranks of the cities better players. A session player and veteran of the stage, perhaps you’ve seen him in support of Scary Pockets, Charlie Puth, Vulfpeck, or Meghan Trainor. But, he’s also a writer, and a very clever one at that. Rumor has it there’s a full LP coming, in the meantime, here’s our review of his latest release, “Fancy Jeans.”
The vibes you’re going to hear will remind of you Silk Sonic and Macklemore, but you’re also going to hire some really slick modal chord changes that will remind you of Stevie Wonder and modern jazz projects like Weather Report. His bass tone is impeccable. For those of us who play, it’s like hearing a bit of Jaco, Nathan Watts, and Alphonso Johnson all rolled into one. Aside from the groove he lays down, the riffs are jaw dropping. Ironically, or perhaps planned for (and quite sarcastically), it clocks in on the nose at 3:00.
Tracks starts with a bit of background noise and the riff that you’ll soon become quite familiar with. Then the groove drops in with a killer synth tone and fun vocal ad libs from vocalist Jacob Luttrell. The chordal interplay in the first verse - the work between the major tonic and the major three under the melody - is absolutely gorgeous. The progression in the pre-chorus is as stunning as the lyrics are funny. No sense in me trying to break it down for you - give yourself a theory lesson and figure it out on the piano, you’ll be glad you did.
Second A& B sections are a continuation of the first two, with just the right amount of build. If you think that the song is about pants, well, you’re wrong. It’s a funny play on words, but it’s about genetics. Production of the track is perfect. It’s right up there with anything that Mark Ronson or Bruno Mars would release. The panning of the Rhodes patches. The background vocals. The Vulfpeck like guitar riffs and those 80’s inspired synth hits are all wonderful. Special attention should be given to the background parts in the B sections before each chorus. Good lord, can’t imagine how long it took them to track that. You definitely need to listen to this with your best cans on, and then listen to it again with your studio monitors to take it all in.
Make sure you check out his Facebook page so you can see a live version of it with the amazing Luttrell handling the vocals and some keys, too. The keyboard / voice box solos on that take are disturbing. It’s one of those videos that makes you realize you don’t practice enough.
We review more tracks than we can recall for this blog and our playlists. Rarely does a song stand out like this. For those of us who’s first love is jazz and funk, this is as good as it gets. Well done, Nick! Hope to see you headlining soon.
Check it out now!