City Lights is the first single from Los Angeles based guitarist KC Lau.
KC describes the track as:
City Lights is a guitar instrumental piece composed and arranged by myself. Co produced, mixed and mastered by Singapore based producer, composer and keyboardist Jerry Poh. City Lights is heavily centered around the genre of Pop/Singer Songwriter with a splash of Fusion, Jazz and RnB Elements. City Lights was inspired during my drive through the City Lights of LA downtown, getting lost under the lights of a beautiful yet crazy little city of LA.
A disclaimer: KC is a former guitar student of mine. That said, this review reflects my thoughts on his admirable first release.
The track begins with a clean guitar part that sets the groove along with light shakers. Then the theme comes before the drums, bass and extra layers filling up the space.
The drums and the prominent backbeat build to a more intense B section with a more distorted electric guitar tone. This part still focuses on a strong melodic line before going to an interlude type part with a nice groovy riff.
It dovetails into the guitar solo section featuring KC’s tasteful soloing. The guitar solo begins with a strong pickup, melodic vocal playing.
Also, this has some nice Mateus Asato vibes – which makes sense since KC has studied with Mateus in 2017.
I love it goes to the B section and then builds up with lots of tasty legato playing and bends. It’s more bluesy vibes before the theme comes back.
Recapitulation to the theme brings it back down… but this time with more embellishments in the electric guitar part.
All in all, this is a good instrumental guitar track with with good pop production. It shows a lot of promise with KC combining his musical influences in one track.
The best part of the track is how honest the music feels.
The danger with pop instrumental tracks is when guitar solos get edited into a sterile thing.
Not with this!
KC has done well showcasing his musical development so far. It’s nice to listen to & with repeated listens becomes even nicer.
Definitely have a listen to this if you’re into instrumental guitar.
TLDR: If you enjoy instrumental guitar with Mateus Asato vibes, do check out this single from KC Lau.
Rating: 3.5/5
Listen to City Lights here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/kclau/city-lights
Credits:
Composed and Arranged by KC Lau
All Guitars by KC Lau
Produced by KC Lau, Jerry Poh
Mixed and Mastered by Jerry Poh Qingle
[About]
A freelance guitarist based in Los Angeles. KC aims to provide service in guitar for musicians in both live and studio settings. Over the years, KC has been playing live shows regularly and has his guitar work featured in both Singapore and LA Artiste.