Tōth - “Not Broken”
Photo by Michael Leviton
Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Tōth arrives on the blog with the chilled and beautifully melodic indie pop song, “Not Broken.”
“Not Broken” is an uplifting, bright banger designed to put you in a celebratory mood. I cannot rave enough about the track as it’s a bona fide classic! Layered, polished and punchy it will appeal to pop fans of both Beck and Paul McCartney. It is also hard to place in style as it seems to take the best out of the 1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s and so on. It is exquisitely timeless.
The arrangement, mix and production are astoundingly inventive and again it is hard to know where to start. It has the weirdness of David Byrne with inventive, magical chord changes. They shouldn’t go together but they do! What is pleasing is that “Not Broken” isn’t even disjointed maths rock with impressionistic lyrics. It is quirky but comfortable like your favourite pair of shoes.
We have great loop layers of vocals that act as an atmospheric pad. It is both melody and texture and brings to mind techniques deployed by Grimes at the conclusion of her track “Realiti.” Feel good brass enhance the playfulness, warm acoustic guitar… that’s all before we get to the unusually tight and bouncy rhythm section of drums and bass! It is just perfect pop music with complexity.
Tōth serves up an awesome, smooth, vibrant vocal for the track. It is a vibe to listen to as it melodically weaves through the sweet groove. In the introspective moments there is again a definite McCartney vibe but for the rest of the song it feels a lot closer to Andi Fins in terms of vibe.