Intensely moved, vocally strong and technically gifted mark a perfect triple for Ember Knight’s latest track, Radio God. An immediate, engrossing conversation bleeds through into an immaculately produced track that nurtures the subtle, slower components Knight is gifted with. Piano moves and synth grooves reflect on a brief conversation with God, requesting Journey on the radio and an uplifting experimentation. Piano-ballad structures are always a great form for an artist. It gives them a range that explores their vocal gift, and Knight appears to showcase that like no other. It is inherently optimistic and immediately engaging. Difficult it is to do that in such an overstuffed series of releases, Knight makes it look as easy as anything. Radio God is a sincere gift of a track.
It is as moving as it is optimistic, but not in that comically barren way that lingers on the lips of pop artists. Knight is instead capable of coming up with lyrical depth for optimistic occasions that still have a lingering feel of doubt and love to them. Connectivity is at the core of Radio God, a track just as much about the difficulties of good news in personal dilemmas and disarray as it is about clinging to and pushing through with those good feelings. There is that sickly fear of seeing others do better than the self, and where Radio God reflects on that is through a beautiful break from its soft and well-mused lyrics for an instrumental section.
That section cuts through with moving clarity. Bobby McCoy’s arrangement is as well placed as Knight’s lyrical and musical talents. There is a severity to these lyrics though, as wistful and well-meaning as they are. A need and sincere desire to cut through the buzz of bad news and its frequency of it brings about a new meaning to that Journey track reference. Don’t Stop Believing and all it stands for not just as a lyrical placement here but for what the track itself means. Radio God is as intertextual as it is broad, and it makes for an exciting piece of music in an era where artists must push themselves further and further to explore the common notes of optimism pop music does so vaguely and
Beyond that and never usually much to comment on is a divinely strong music video, its articulation comes from its simplicity and the tremendous quality that comes from it. Knight cross-legged in front of a piano, a space-like exterior and a Charlie Brown-sized piano mark a wonderful piece. It expands the scene set by the strong lyrical arrangements throughout Radio God. Chamber pop bags itself another quality artist, or rather, Ember Knight kicks the genre into gear and toes the line of greatness more than a handful of times with their latest track. More like that should surely be on the horizon. Creative and exciting times ahead, and if Radio God is anything to go by, Knight has much more to offer to a genre clawing for new ideas, creativity and the blur between the two.
