songwriter

Well, Phil Specs certainly didn’t hold back in pouring his pensively romantic emotion into his latest single One Last Kiss which was released May 2^nd, 2018. I won’t even attempt to fit Phil Specs sound into a genre, the singer songwriter has created one of the most unique soundscapes I’ve heard this year and I wouldn’t change a thing about his sultry vocal tones, raw lyrics and arresting instrumental composition of sound. With perceptible musical influences including Hip Hop, Pop & Rock in One Last Kiss Alone it’s clear that Phil Specs has a naturally astounding command of sound. His sonorous baritone vocals had pretty much the same effect that washes over me when I’m listening to Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, yet there’s no disputing that Phil Specs has a truly one of a kind vocal style.

You can check out the official video to Phil Specs latest single One Last Kiss on YouTube now, or head on over to Spotify where you can stick his dulcet tones on your playlists.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

If Damien Rice had grown up in the deep south instead of Eastern Ireland he may very well have written this song. Underwater is imbued with the same use of space, sweeping grace and atmosphere that Rice fills his songs with and the fact that Brian Mackey delivers a song which already sounds like it is from the closing credits of an underground film which has blown up massively with mainstream audiences says a lot about his abilities.

It is a song which feels as weightless in its musicality as it is heavy in its heart-aching sentiment, just the sound of a man with his piano writing a soundtrack to his memories yet somehow sitting in the space between musical expression and private rumination, exposing regrets without relinquishing them. It is this balance between the public song and the private thought that makes this emotional exorcism even more intense for being so tentative. Music can be many things but it is at its most potent when it is honest, reflective and intensely beautiful.