To be able to weave together a sound that both echoes the sound of long and lauded, soul-soaked R&B and feels perfectly at home at the cutting edge of the modern mainstream is quite an art. But Sasha Joy and producer Sanga Toto certainly do that here.
To Stay is a gorgeous slice of subtlety and sensation, seduction and sass. A song that uses every sonic strand it needs to achieve its musical goal…but no more. And this approach means that between the soulful guitar licks and half-heard but totally felt harmonies, the bubbling basslines and Sasha Joy’s warm and elegant vocals, there is plenty of space.
And space is the key, it is where the light gets in, it allows everything to breathe, it allows the various sonic strands to complement rather than compete and it is the place where all those understated sounds pool and percolate, in doing so becoming more than the sum of the song’s parts, a collection of deft and delicate sonics that weave and wander through the melodies and form that additional undefinable thing, that intangible quality, that x factor.
Half neo-soul, half scintillating pop, and half a nostalgic reverie (yes, I know the maths doesn’t work, but this song is at least half as good again as its competitors. At least!) “To Stay” is everything that the modern mainstream is missing.
More please.
