Some say its Neo Soul, some say it’s retro. Either way Curtis never lets anyone down. 

Curtis Harding’s latest effort, “I Won’t Let You Down” provides us with great soul groove creating a soundtrack to our lives. 

The song starts by stealing the chord structure from the chorus. 

The verse piano chord progression is simple, it has two chords that use rhythm to spice things up a bit. The song builds expectation nicely throughout the pre chorus, and then hits us with a bang on the chorus, where the back-up singers stack their gospel-like harmonies and sing the main hook in two parts. 

First they sing the words “ I Won’t”, they stop and Curtis sings his line, “ I’m here for you”  then the backup harmonies strike again with the second part of the hook “ Let You Down”, and Curtis follows with his line” Whatever you do”. It’s really clever, and works wonders in a chorus to lift dynamics and provide the focal point of the song. 

Curtis has an amazing voice. When you first hear his vocals in the verse, it really shows you what he’s all about, his voice is smoother than silk! His relaxed & cool vocal style stays in the low to mid register for most of the song, with the only exception being the end of it, where he goes into a slight falsetto as he sings “oohhh”. 

I Won’t Let You Down, has an instrumental bridge. It’s a simple piece of music which features horns, so it helps to change things up slightly, however, it left me wondering why Curtis didn’t choose to use this bridge as an opportunity to sing a nice melody in a slightly higher register. In my humble opinion, this would have taken the song to another level. If you listen closely to the music in the bridge, it feels like something’s missing here, and it’s just aching for a slight kick in emotion in a melody.  

If you wanted a cool soul track you can sit down and enjoy a drink to, look no further, Curtis won’t let you down. 

Author: Rob Costa

Rob Costa is a freelance writer & Ghost songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. Rob helps us out with music reviews.