![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/young_mister.jpg\")
Young Mister is the performing name of Steven Fiore, a Tryon-based singer songwriter. His background includes membership in the jazz band led by actor-musician Jeff Goldblum, co-writing experience with Art Garfunkel and eight years as a writer for Universal Music’s publishing arm. Young Mister’s self-titled debut was released in 2016, and 2017 saw the release of both an EP (Soft Rock<\/i>) and a holiday-themed single, \u201cChristmas Come Early This Year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fiore created his latest, Sudden Swoon<\/i> in his home studio (he calls it \u201cThe Study\u201d). His process of crafting the album involved recording demos for 20 songs, sharing them with his Facebook followers and inviting them to vote for their favorites. After tallying the results, Fiore returned to The Study where he made new, fully-formed recordings of eleven songs.<\/p>\n
The artist’s approach draws from the classic songwriter tradition of the early 1970s (Carole King, Neil Diamond etc.) but his approach to arrangements is rooted just as much in modern-day aesthetics. Still, that timeless feel is what characterizes his music. Songs like \u201cBurned Up Wagon\u201d have a breezy yet melancholy vibe that may remind some listeners of early Eagles, Poco or Pure Prairie League.<\/p>\n
Fiore places sharp focus on lyrics; as lovely as the layered vocal harmonies are \u2013 and they are truly special \u2013 it’s the words themselves that resonate. When he repeats the line \u201cLet your love be the reason\u201d on that opening cut, his emotional conviction shines through. And a surf-twang reverberating Fender guitar figure ties all of the song’s elements together.<\/p>\n
That sense of building a song around a memorable lick is a quality that shows up in most all of Fiore’s songs. \u201cWhat If I?\u201d has a plaintive yet hopeful feel that’s brightened by gentle wood-block rhythm and soothing harmonies. \u201cDamage\u201d is reminiscent of Crowded House; the song’s arrangement makes full use of the melodic potential of bass guitar as part of the song’s overall construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Day Our World Was Born\u201d has a subtle Americana feel, with shimmering acoustic guitars and understated pedal steel. On second thought, that might not be a pedal steel; perhaps it’s a synthesizer; it’s hard to tell and ultimately doesn’t matter. Fiore selects and employs instrumentation that serves his songs; their source isn’t the point; it’s more about how<\/i> he uses them.<\/p>\n
Hal Blaine’s classic \u201cBe My Baby\u201d drum beat is the clear inspiration for the rhythm of \u201cHopefully, Maybe,\u201d but the song itself owes more to Dan Fogelberg’s songwriting approach. Fiore sings of being \u201ca soldier for the corporate man,\u201d and one gets the sense that he’s speaking from personal experience. \u201cAnother Life\u201d has a pastoral arrangement that unfolds into something more deeply layered. The highlight of \u201cShine Like That\u201d is a gospel-flavored vocal chorus.<\/p>\n
A pair of songs \u2013 \u201cBetter\u201d and \u201cBest\u201d \u2013 illustrate the range of Fiore’s styles. The former is a country-styled pop tune, whereas the latter traffics in a more soft album-rock manner, with an uplifting bridge and chorus.<\/p>\n
Young Mister’s trademark sound doesn’t make use of a lot of keyboards; one exception is the warm, inviting electric piano texture that decorates \u201cKeep My Mind Off You.\u201d The song itself is reminiscent of ’70s pop group Firefall (\u201cJust Remember I Love You\u201d).<\/p>\n
The keys take an even more central role on Sudden Swoon<\/i>‘s closing track. Acoustic piano and vocal are at the heart of \u201cHave a Great Summer.\u201d In the tradition of classic back-to-school tunes of yesteryear (like the Beach Boys’ \u201cAll Summer Long\u201d), the song is \u2013 like much of Fiore’s compositions \u2013 quite melancholy but ultimately optimistic. And that description truly applies to the album itself as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Young Mister is the performing name of Steven Fiore, a Tryon-based singer songwriter. His background includes membership in the jazz band led by actor-musician Jeff Goldblum, co-writing experience with Art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,65],"tags":[237,3996,3995],"class_list":["post-17507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-review","tag-asheville","tag-steven-fiore","tag-young-mister","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17509,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17507\/revisions\/17509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}