Track Review: Horizon // Ross Freedman
With over three decades of experience in the music industry, singer-songwriter Ross Freedman knows his way around melodies. Influenced by the likes of Aimee Mann, Counting Crows, Elvis Costello and the Beatles, the US-based artist brings the sounds of yesteryear to modern-day audiences with a slight contemporary pop-rock edge. Featured on Sinusoidal Music, Find No Enemy, Info Music, Roadie Music, Pigeon Reviews and many playlists, Ross Freedman is reaching audiences on an international scale. The latest addition to his discography is the single ‘Horizon’.
His first release since his album Fall (released in 2016), ‘Horizon’ is a song of hope, empowerment and dealing with difficult situations. Penned during the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘Horizon’ was inspired partly by an Instagram image and partly by the passing of loved ones. Ross shares that ‘Horizon’ was written “…not long after my mother and then my father-in-law passed away in 2019. I didn’t realise it while writing it, but now understand that this song is about the hopefulness of finding one’s footing after a series of extreme, destabilising events.”
Recorded with musician and producer Steve Dawson, ‘Horizon’ adopts an eclectic vibe in its melodic arrangement – an experimental “letting the song reveal itself over the course of recording”. Originally a track written “off-the-cuff in a stream-of-consciousness”, ‘Horizon’ has strong leanings toward the sounds of Paul McCartney. Soft, gentle and soothing, the acoustic-inspired piano melds effectively with guitars, strings and interspersed woodwinds.
While the lead vocals do have a soothing dulcet tone, you can also hear a melancholia tinge in the hopeful vibes. I can easily see (or rather hear) ‘Horizon’ being played to sold-out venues making each listener sway along to the gentle melody and try to avoid crying – it really is that beautifully intimate.