The most effective arts have the ability to enrapture us into new environments and atmospheres of pure emotion. A carefully crafted blend of instrumental elements and precision guided vocal harmonics have the power to sweep us off our feet and feel all the feels. The rush of falling haplessly in love, the uplifting ascent of feeling elated and enamored, the joy of getting to know someone, the pains of getting to know someone and the elevator basement drop of when things fall apart. The most keen artists can orchestrate all this and more as presentations that brim with all of these complexities, contradictions and conundrums alike in ways where we can witness art imitating life and vice versa. Through these creative entities we can experience things outside of our own lives like entering into an elaborate new dimension that presents parallels and peculiar storylines outside of our own respective timelines.

Presenting a botany of sleek sensationalism is Smooth Rogers’ debut of “Walking Away”, an immersive and lavish slice of novella pop that mixes a love story and lamentations in equal measure. The Chicago by Grand Rapids artist Zac Bron teases the follow up to last summer’s album Speechless with music that blends up modern motifs of retro-futurism into new contemporary molds and modes of mimetic synthesis. Known for tuning the timeless r&b in the duo Picante, Zac’s work as Smooth Rogers is an exercise in pushing the scope of re-envisioning what fusions can be found in forging electric elements from anachronistic epochs in new focused forms of hyper hypnagogic expansive experimentalism.

"Walking Away" is a major event in the current development of the Smooth Rogers canon. While the maximalism of Speechless underscored audio adventurism, swimming through cinema soundtrack b-reels from cult midnight popcorn flicks — Zac expertly delivers the full narrative scale of romance, love, loss, pride and pain into a succinct star gazing dream pop opera melody. Draped in hazy layers of gauzy soft linen layers of mind grazing guitars and button blinking arpeggiated synths, “Walking Away” takes you through the breathless highs and the drama spiked depths that span the rollercoaster ranges of crestfallen sentiments. And even while weathering these polarities, the restrained and debonair demeanor of the upscale Smooth Rogers brand of soap shop pop / serenity of sound is on full display all throughout. The overwhelming throes of infatuation and the histrionics of heartbreak are exhibited through distilling early 90s/late 80s chill college chart iconography into late 90s top alternative radio gloss with a trip hop head twist (one that is heavily influenced by the golden eras of rave, rhythms, hip hop and neon lit blues). “Walking Away” dazzles by oozing amour, anguish, balancing ethereality with rhythms that dot the cascading arrangements that move between the places of earth and ascend into the attics of celestial spaces.

Zac Bron shared the following reflections on the inspirations behind the new Smooth Rogers single “Walking Away”:

“Walking Away” is a song I wrote about an old friend or lover that has changed so much and has become almost unrecognizable. Both of the verses start off more positive, talking about trusting somebody and feeling like they are exactly what you need in your life, and then as the verses go on, I talk about how you can start to get this uneasy feeling that things might not be working out.

The chorus is about when you fully realize that, even though you thought you were close to that person, you’re drifting apart and now they feel like a completely different person to you. Production-wise, I was pretty inspired by late 90’s and early 2000’s downtempo and trip-hop. I wanted to go for that nostalgic dreamy vibe with some crunchy 90’s drum machines and spacey guitars and keyboards.

Listen to more from Smooth Rogers here.