Charles Tilden - “another way”
Charles Tilden from Toronto, Canada, immerses us in the smoothly psychedelic “another way.”
“another way” is a nostalgically charming indie folk / rock track that wouldn’t have felt out of place as a single in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It has an endearing, effortless warmth that you only find on the likes of Nilsson, the lo-fi end of The Beach Boys, or from the early solo records of Paul McCartney.
The soft rhythm is floating and relaxed, pulsing like a lazy sea lapping onto a beach on a warm summer’s day. Each beat rolls in and fades back, casually leaving everything else to breathe and drift above it all. A light strummed acoustic guitar feels tender and hypnotic, while mellow wind arrangements form romantic cushions of sound on which electric piano and electric guitar elegantly overlap.
At the centre of the sun-drenched textures is the intimate vocal of Charles Tilden. He lends a disarming, almost conversational performance that is exquisitely sincere. The charm though lies not in the showmanship but in the way he lets the melody simply unfold. The vocal is surrounded but lush, layered harmonies that give hints of doo-wop movement and rhythmic flourishes. Gentle, warm, much in the same way as Bacharach and Spector. Simply classic.
Lyrically, the song is an intelligent meditation on perspective, emotional surrender and transformation. It evokes the introspective psychedelia seen in classic indie folk whether Nick Drake or again Nilsson and The Beach Boys.