Hay Luz

Departure

Single Review

There has always been a magic in instrumental music that I didn’t appreciate until beginning this blog. I always wrote it off as something for blues bands, jazz quartets, or large orchestras. Luckly my whole view on the genre has been flipped and I now have a growing soft spot for the talented artists out there who allow their creativity to run wild in their instrumental offerings. The latest piece of magic that has caught my attention is the new single ‘Hay Luz from London based composer and songwriter Departure. It is a piece of music that truly embraces the nature of instrumental music a pulls you on a journey like none other. With this in mind, this review will be slightly different to my previous ones. So lets get started.

Straight away it is worth pointing out that the term ‘Hay Luz’ roughly translates to ‘There is Light’. Upon reading this translation the whole song began to become a moving image for. Each section, so tenderly and passionately put together became alive and part of a larger story that the music was trying to tell me. So when listening to its rich South American influences, especially with the guitars picking pattern and rhythm devices, I began to create a story that I felt was locked inside the music. This, this exact moment was when I decided that this song was special. There are a lot of instrumental pieces out there that sound great and have a clear structure, but there are few that are able to reach inside your mind and persuade it to hear the story trapped beneath its notes.

Told you this review would be different….

The story of the song for me is the journey of someone or something that has dwelt I darkness for a long time catches a glimpse of light amidst their usually grey world. It achieves this for me by coupling a bright, sharp guitar picking pattern with the faint rattle of rain sticks behind it. You just immediately picture gloomy but with a hint of something positive to come. The song then doesn’t hesitate to take its time as it layers instrument atop of instrument. Sliding double bass notes, faint hor sounds, and subtle guitar accents all create an environment of the protagonist of the song moving out of its gloom and venturing in search of this elusive light. Even as the rhythm kicks in with a subtle yet snappy beat the song keeps growing as the adventure and search continues to get bigger.

Just after the halfway mark of the song a reverse synth effect is employed that gives the impression of the light dancing through gaps in the darkness and at the same time the surrounding instruments seem to grow in excitement in response. This all leads to a perfectly timed breakdown where the guitar sharply down strums the songs chords. To me this is the point at which our traveler has discovered the source of the light and is in awe of what they have found. Again this is painted through the shine on the guitar and the way that the space around the guitars strumming has been allowed to spread out, unhindered. Then just as you think it is over the song builds once again with the reverse synth and dives into the final run of the track. This whole section just feels joyous and from the songs story angle, feels like closer to the journey.

Overall, ‘Hay Luz’ is one of those pieces of music that truly deserves the title of a ‘Piece of magic’. It is wonderfully colourful, emotive, and satisfying. There was never a moment when too much was happening and every instrument choice, every chord change, all of it just felt perfectly aligned with what was going on around it. In short, it is instrumental artists like Departure that are creating stunning soundscapes that deserved to be heard in all its glory by as many people as possible. So give it a listen and take a chance on a genre that can do so much to your mind, in such a short amount of time.

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