Des Cox doesn’t necessarily like doing things the easy way, and if this weren’t true I doubt he would have gone about making his new single, a cover of “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” as detailed as he did. It’s easy to play a cover tune before a rambunctious audience as a means of segueing into other material or even calling it a night, but to put your own imprint on a song as iconic as this Elvis Presley classic is an entirely different story altogether. Stirring our senses with a rich tonal presence only surpassed by his command over the lyrics, Des Cox gives the king a run for his money in this reworking of a composition that already had a special place in history.
The guitar part in this single is defined by its unbreakable simplicity, and I think it’s made compelling by how little emphasis it’s given in the grander scheme of things. There are actually a few instances in which the crowd is even louder than the strings are, but their melody is still present as Cox sews one verse to the next. Normally I would assume none of this was deliberate, but given the aesthetical value this attribute still manages to contribute, I believe the contrary to be true in these circumstances. By leaving the instrumentation a step below the audience, it actually lends some credibility to the unrehearsed harmony our singer is developing with the listeners before him, which is something that is exceptionally priceless.
Cox spins the lyrics of “Are You Lonesome Tonight” as to be witty and laden with adapted jokes written special for the occasion, and I think his words are made all the more accessible by the relaxed energy with which he delivers them to us. His execution is terrific, and I would say he could put on a course if he wanted to outside of the studio, but it’s the mood of his melody that really puts the cherry on top for me in this performance. It might not fit in with the mainstream standard as well as other material would, but a cover like this one is probably exactly what the underground needed to stay chipper through this final push away from 2020 and into 2021.
It’s certainly not often that you find a cover that possesses the kind of vitality and honest passion “Are You Lonesome Tonight” does, but then again, it’s not all that often any of us come in contact with a singer/songwriter as gifted as Des Cox is. There are a lot of interesting new tracks coming out of the post-pandemic chapter in the history of pop music, but if you’re searching for something that is both simple and sophisticated, poised but not without the perfect amount of humor included for good measure, you really need to give this song a shot. Cox isn’t going anywhere, and he asserts his sustainability as a creative figure in a new time for music in this most recent studio effort.
Loretta Kim
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