De’Wayne “June”
‘Now that you’re here, would you like to know…’ the opening line from De’Wayne’s new album June invites you into his theatrical, infectious and flamboyant musical masterpiece. Trust me, say yes.
This album, for the most part an ode to women, could rock a dance nightclub or getting you dancing at rock show. It is equally comfortable at a sporting event or a burlesque show. It’s everything yet fluid. It’s a rock album. It’s a funk album. It’s electro 80’s pop. It’s Prince. It’s Bowie. It’s De’Wayne.
This album has a little something for everyone. Songs that are sensual and sexy for that exotic dancer in you. Songs everyone will sing with joy at your wedding. It’s hard to box in this album because there is so much going on, which is the essence of its beauty. I mean, Lenny Kravitz appears on it, one of the main men of musical genre fluidity of recent times.
Opener Lady Lady – oh man, this song is fire- a pulsating riff, hips swaggering vocals and a sexy solo which explodes in climax after only three minutes. Yeah, it’s that good you’ll find yourself pressing repeat again and this is just the first track.
To follow that with the title track in June, a tale of a women with style leading iconic adventures at 9am with De’Wayne in wide eyed awe, is a dance floor riot. The chorus is like starting a food fight in a fancy restaurant and laughing when getting ejected. It’s an anthem.
Some songs are 70’s funk such as the dreamy groove of I’ll Be There which makes me wish I was sitting at a pool bar in Fiji rather than working in an office.
Take A Picture is a funky, smooth sexy number, one for our exotic dancers, about a girl who is so stunning you’ve got to, well, take a picture. Yeah, there are Prince vibes over this however it sure is awesome and another sure-fire hit of a chorus.
Not every song is a turn the lights down, turn the heat up, panty dropping content. Sunday’s, which was the admittedly the first song of De’Wayne’s I heard, is about the man’s relationship with his father, both the good and bad. Yet, even with a slower extra 80’s pop vibe, it knocks it out of the park for a grand slam, the rawness of De’Wayne vocals in the bridge, spine tingling.
Highway Robbery is a funky, soulful rocker, a catchy number of having his heart stolen by a girl, builds and builds becoming anthemic.
Whatever written magical potion De’Wayne concocted with producer Dylan Bauld and co writer Brandon Colbein, this is one album of songs that shifts my mood from dreary morning commute to a beaming smile in an instant, and I’m sold on De’Wayne’s wild vocals.
The dexterity and chameleon fluidity of his musical talent shows between Forever which swirls between a Bowie rhythm and an early Michael Jackson dance floor stomper about caramel kisses and Prize Fight, which is edgy, dangerous and not out of place on an alternative movie soundtrack.
It’s this theatre, you should see his videos, that somehow pops out over the music. Everything is one hundred percent commitment to the full entertainment package.
Closing out with What Does He Really Know a grandiose, upbeat walking song, like a peak Beatles A Day In The Life vibe, again displaying what this guy can do effortlessly precedes Love Raider, which should really be on a movie soundtrack and the top of the charts with its stomping verses and epic chorus.
It has been a few years since I heard an album that could get me out of a funk by just pressing play. This actually isn’t a rock album. Or soul. Or funk. Or electro. This album is the musical equivalent to serotonin.
Album Review By Iain McCallum
JUNE (ALBUM) – OUT JULY 30
https://found.ee/dewayne-june
