Bleu Stroud - Hands Like The Ocean
Bleu Stroud arrived on the music scene a short time ago. Since then, she’s released a series of wonderful singles: “Blue Town,” “Train Wreck,” and “Still Love You Anyway.” Her latest offering is “Hands Like The Ocean” and, like its predecessors, is sublime, blending buttery country savors with vibrant pop flavors, as well as tints of cool R&B bliss.
Bleu Stroud
Stroud’s songwriting ability is nonpareil, yet it’s her voice, a cap-a-pie glorious instrument of expression, that sends delicious sensations rippling through your diaphragm. It’s one of those once-every-millennium voices, something at once noun and verb, velvety, supple, translucent, suffused with yummy nuances, and beguiling. What I call a “deluxe, big-ticket voice,” because you know the owner of the voice enjoys beautiful command of its entirety.
From So-Cal, Stroud’s talent is innate and effortless. When she was eight-years-old she taught herself to play the guitar, followed by the 12-string guitar, banjo, piano, and ukulele. At the same time, she was writing songs with lustrous melodies crowned by extraordinary lyrics, both vulnerable and intimate.
When Stroud’s scrumptious voice enters, the effect is wickedly sensuous, as cashmere seductive timbres light up the harmonics.
At the present juncture, she’s putting the final touches on her debut album, produced by Mark Dutton. Rumored to comprise 10-tracks, all written and performed by Stroud, my personal anticipation is at feverish levels.
“Hands Like The Ocean” opens on a muscular pulsing rhythm accented by shimmering guitars and sparkling tones. When Stroud’s scrumptious voice enters, the effect is wickedly sensuous, as cashmere seductive timbres light up the harmonics. A dreamy, glowing bridge introduces the lush chorus, infusing the R&B-flavored pop tune with tasty tangs of country essence.
A drifting, creamy kaleidoscopic breakdown gives the tune a marvelous lingering sonic shift, before rolling back onto the R&B-laced pop melody. The café electrique undulation of the music makes it magnetically irresistible.
“Hands Like The Ocean” is superb, but it's Bleu Stroud’s wondrously alluring voice, with its spellbinding surface textures, that mesmerizes.
