“Shout!” is the kind of song that feels like it escaped from a parallel universe where the pandemic didn’t crush everyone’s soul; it merely mildly inconvenienced a group of overachieving musicians who decided to respond by becoming even funkier.
What’s immediately obvious is that d’Z the artist behind the composition, arrangement, and production of “Shout!” has spent years absorbing every jazz-funk chord progression that ever tried to outsmart its own audience. You can hear ghosts of Jacob Collier’s galaxy-brain harmonies, Gino Vannelli’s sleek dad-energy smoothness, Incognito’s lively optimism, and Steely Dan’s habit of writing music that feels like it was engineered in a climate-controlled studio by people who own very expensive chairs. But d’Z doesn’t imitate so much as weaponize these influences; more like compressing them into a track that radiates “I have suffered, and now I will groove about it.”
The whole thing began in the pandemic, because of course it did. While most of us were panic-ordering flour and failing to make sourdough, d’Z and Bernadette Dengler who wrote the lyrics and melodies were apparently busy forging a creative partnership built on friendship, musical instinct, and the ability to generate ideas faster than the world could fall apart. What emerges from that collaboration is a track that has the audacity to be joyful.
It opens with fun drumplay and horns; loud, bright, unapologetically present horns that immediately let you know subtlety has been escorted out of the building. The arrangement feels like it knows exactly how charming it is, in the same way a cat knows exactly where the expensive furniture is before knocking something off of it. Everything snaps into place with maddening precision: the grooves, the rhythmic little piano nudges, the brass section that sounds like it trained for this moment its entire life.
Dengler’s vocals glide over the top with infuriating ease, in a way that surprisingly reminded me of the irresistible charms of Japanese citypop. She sings like she’s personally offended by minor chords and intends to chase them out of the room using only melodic charisma and optimism. Her delivery is warm, sly, and annoyingly effective, like being handed a cup of tea by someone who already knows you’re going to ask for a second.
And then Chris Korzec shows up. His guitar solo doesn’t enter the track so much as detonate inside it. It has the chaotic energy of someone who was told “Just do something cool,” and then proceeded to shred like this was his one chance to communicate with an alien race listening on the other end. It’s theatrical, technical, and so perfectly integrated you almost resent how effortlessly it elevates the track.
By the end, “Shout!” has fully committed to being a feel-good, brass-punching, melody-wielding groove machine. It’s polished without being soulless, energetic without being exhausting and delightful. If the goal was to make a song that forces you to smile despite your better judgment, mission accomplished.
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About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for publications in the US and former lead writer of Atop The Treehouse. Reviews music, film and TV shows for media aggregators.
