Rowan Niemisto - “Gimme Strength”
Detroit-based singer-songwriter Rowan Niemisto has just delivered his latest release, “Gimme Strength,” a heartfelt three and a half minutes of pure, folksy bliss and the title track to his new EP.
There’s not a whole lot of ingredients to this song, but the ones that are used are more than enough to feed your eager ears. “Gimme Strength” brilliantly captures Niemisto’s acoustic guitar, as he skillfully plucks away– in fact, it sounds so great that we are tempted to reach out and see if he will reveal which mic he used to record it, because this thing sounds very lush and robust, as though it’s being played right in front of us. And if you’ve been keeping up with our blog posts, you’ll know that we favor this type of sound, as there’s nothing else that quite compares.
The only other element here, other than the piano that appears later, is the glorious sound of the lap steel– one of our most favorite instruments, especially as of late. It has the ability to fill the open spaces of a song in a way that no other instrument can. It’s ghostly and oftentimes melancholy, positioned in the same spot in which many artists opt to use a synth pad. But when it comes to ethereal instrumental elements, there is simply no other that we’d rather hear in its place.
Finally, it’s Niemisto’s tender vocal that, for us, sealed the deal with featuring “Gimme Strength” on the blog. His voice carefully and melodically calls for courage through the lyrical content, adding elegant harmonies that lift the song from great to glorious. We cannot think of a better song to bring us some strength as we all face the remainder of the work week.
Upon listening to “Gimme Strength,” music lovers might decide to chase down some of Niemisto’s other music. We are delighted to inform you that Gimme Strength is also the title of the EP from which this song hails, so we’re going to make it easy for you and offer up an additional track, entitled “Another Friend.” While it is not as stripped back as the previous, its full production lends us additional feel-good vibes, complete with drums, bass, and vintage-toned guitar that will make it difficult to decide which track you love the most. Rest assured, though, everything you hear from Niemisto is going to contain vocals that hit.
And at this point, you might as well listen to the rest of the EP, because you’re already halfway there:
-TM