Chris Mardini - Retrospective Outlook
PREMIERE | CHRIS MARDINI STRUTS HIS TALENT ON ‘RETROSPECTIVE OUTLOOK’
Based in NYC, 17-year-old alt-rock artist Chris Mardini premieres “Retrospective Outlook” on Rawckus. The track is from his can’t-wait-for-it debut EP, produced by double Grammy winner Marc Swersky, and mixed by Mark Needham.
Chris Mardini
Right from the get-go, know this: “Retrospective Outlook” is lit!
Mardini’s vast array of talents includes TV and film, voiceovers, theater, and commercials. His gift for music surfaced in the second grade, where his rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” left the audience awestruck. By the age of 12, he was playing guitar, followed by writing original songs and playing with two bands while in middle school and Brooklyn Technical High School, performing at NYC’s leading venues, such as Rockwood Music Hall, The Bitter End, and Arlene’s Grocery, along with the Taste of the West Village Festival, the Westbeth Music Fair, and Cornell Presbyterian Children’s Hospital.
Since going solo and hooking up with master producer Swersky, Mardini’s creative brilliance has attained inferno-like intensity, consuming everything in its path.
Laying down tracks with New York’s crème de la crème musicians, including Alan Markley (keyboards), Vin Landolfi (guitar), and Alex Agresti (drums), courtesy of Swersky’s connections, Mardini’s sound has attained intoxicating levels of magnetism. It’s a sound blending the muscle of ‘90’s rock with the contemporary heft and authenticity of hip-hop.
Without a doubt, this track is destined to be a hit.
Explaining his decision to go solo, Mardini says, “I enjoyed my time playing in bands, but I made a conscious decision to focus on being a solo artist because it offers me greater artistic freedom. In a group, you’re always dealing with creative differences about what the band should look and sound like and what everyone’s role is. As an artist, I have fewer restrictions and can create my own vibe and sound without anyone shooting down my ideas because they don’t fit the band’s sound. Same with acting. I enjoy going on auditions and doing the work, but making music is much more personal and meaningful to me.”
“Retrospective Outlook” opens on an escalating guitar flowing into a throbbing, pulsing rhythm topped by heavy guitars full of hypertrophic resonance and depth. A gleaming guitar-filled breakdown leads to a tight brawny hip-hop flow, as Mardini exercises his delicious rapping skills.
“Stubborn I’m stubborn / Think I’m outta my mind / I got four-hundred and twenty reasons for you not to try / Sometimes I feel like a black hole, ion know / There’s no explanation for where the time goes / And I got all these people coming, I see the facades / I feel the pressure, it’s pressing and now I’m gonna miss my shot.”
Another organ-laced breakdown, topped by Mardini’s velvety melodic tones, shifts the harmonics, followed by reverberating dynamic guitars rounded out by impressive vocal harmonies, infusing the tune with surging washes of sonic dimension.
“Retrospective Outlook” has it all: sonic punch, harmonic scope, infectious rhythmic center, and the deluxe voice of Chris Mardini, who most definitely has it going on. Without a doubt, this track is destined to be a hit.
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