Saying that 2020 has been a year of diverse output for the international underground just isn’t fair – when compared side by side with recent years past, 2020 has been a rainbow of rhythm and tonality that a lot of critics really couldn’t have seen coming. This fall, Canadian players like Chris Ning are gaining particular momentum on the strength of their American counterparts’ lull in output, but listening to Ning’s new single “Explode” has made me question if this is the sole reason why. With the right combination of pipes, pulsations and poetry, this singer/songwriter turned me into a fan with his new single overnight.
The percussion isn’t quite as loud as the vocal is in this mix, but if we’re being real, it absolutely doesn’t need to be to have just as demonstrative an emotional contribution as any of the other elements here have. Ning capitalizes on the fact that his voice is as versatile a divine creature as it is in “Explode,” and in pushing the bass to the top, he makes it easier to slip a subtler drum component into the grander scheme of things (thus making the eruption near the finish line all the more cathartic).
I don’t think that he needed to work as much of the synth into the big picture as he did, but just the same, I don’t think anything is powerful enough in this song to take much of the spotlight away from Chris Ning’s lead vocal. He’s got mad skills with that microphone in his hand, and even in front of a beautiful backdrop like the beach we see in the music video for “Explode,” his energy tends to be the greatest part of any given performance. It’s intoxicating and emotive, but most of all, I can tell it’s the real article.
Though I haven’t seen Chris Ning sing in a live performance, I want to after getting into “Explode.” The mood, the moxie, even the melodic command of the instrumental parts here would be something to experience in person even more than it is in this capacity, and while it might seem like we’re not going to know the status of live concerts for a while, something tells me that the moment we do know what the future looks like, this player is going to get on top of booking some new gigs as soon as humanly possible.
I was told to expect greatness in this singer/songwriter before I listened to “Explode” for the first time, but if this is what his debut LP is going to sound like, you can definitely count me in for more of Chris Ning’s sound. Talent isn’t endless – it’s as finite a blessing as it gets in this universe, but Ning isn’t taking it for granted at all. “Explode” exhibits some serious muscle flexing on his part that has to become a staple of his style if he’s ever going to make it to the big time, and in this release, it’s making him the toast of October pop without question.
Jodi Marxbury