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Chris Bottomley
Pull It Together (download track)
(independent) - 2023
Michael Panontin
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Chris Bottomley is not exactly what you would call prolific these days - this is just his second uploaded song in the last couple of years - but what he may lack in quantity he more than makes up for in quality.
'Pull It Together' comes on the heels, sort of, of last September's achingly gorgeous 'Summer', a string-tinged love song that so perfectly captured the beauty of rural Ontario that it will probably end up in a tourism commercial one day. It's admittedly a pretty tough act to follow, and Bottomley wisely steers clear of a sequel, opting instead for a languorous reggae-and-jazz affair, one that was actually a couple of years in the making.
The seeds of 'Pull It Together' first started to germinate during the pandemic but, as Bottomley recalled, "Something about it didn't feel quite right, I kept changing the bass line." So he decided to hit up a couple of his erstwhile Brainfudge bandmates for some ideas.
"I had heard recently that my pal Bryden Baird had just come back from his stint in Mexico with Cirque du Soleil, so I sent the song to him and he sent it back with all these incredible horn parts recorded. I was blown away. Then I invited friend Kathryn Rose to sing on it, knowing that her voice would be perfect." And after adding what he calls a "reggae-like guitar chop", Bottomley, who was "at the end of my wits" finally hit on a bass groove that he liked.
He was right. 'Pull It Together' is definitely well served by Baird and Rose's contributions. And that groove works, especially as a girder to its darker message of environmental collapse, which as it sadly happens comes to us just two days after the senseless destruction of Ukraine's Khakova Dam.
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