"Okay" by John Connearn and N3b

Out today is the new John Connearn single "Okay": well it is & it isn't as you'll see

Greatly as I admire John's tremendous virtuosity, I always struggle to review his releases to the standard they deserve, which can frustrate me. I lack the technical understanding of his playing and therefore the most appropriate vocabulary.

With that confession in mind (and I've apologised to John repeatedly on the subject), that "Okay" is in fact a collaboration  with N3b actually helps me as the latter brings vocals to the project which thankfully shifts the song a little closer to my area of competence.

I'm not sure how the collaboration came about, but it certainly works nicely. For those, like me who remember John's guitar work behind a vocalist in the sadly defunct Ellipsis, I'm sorry to say (or am I pleased to do so?) that's not much of a reference point, so different is the music.

In fact it's a neat fit with where John seems to be musically these days and so in no way a rehashing of past glories.

I say "where he is" but that's actually more complicated than it seems as although  I really liked his recent explorations of acoustic playing which resulted into his deeply moving EP ‘One Track Mind', "Okay" is much more akin to the more processed electric sounds which characterised his solo releases prior to that.

"Okay" as a song addresses issues of personal well being which does link in nicely to the ‘One Track Mind' songs and has an agreeable warmth and sense of caring which do them both credit and to which the guitar, the vocals, words & production all make their own significant contributions.

This is a most agreeable and subtle track which despite its air of modesty manages to become a bit of an earworm after only a few plays: hopefully plenty of people will identify with it. How long the partnership will go isn't clear: as I say, as a reviewer it helped me (and there is no way that my comfort should shape John's creativity) and I feel that his originality & imagination work just as well as an accompaniment to singing: thanks to the production you can hear all his playing clearly & marvel at his skills while having the prompt of works to understand what the song is about.. which is no bad thing in my opinion.