Montreal Whitmore: “Take It Back” – built on a foundation of a masterful melody and all-embracing instrumentation
An ever evolving and dynamic singer, song writer, engineer and producer, Montreal Whitmore fell in love with music amidst the choir of a Milan TN, Baptist Church. Traveling the world as a Sailor in the US Navy, access to talented music engineers and producers was extremely limited, causing Montreal to hone the skills himself. Resulting in the soulful R&B crooner becoming an engineer at M Studio and an artist on the label G4i Music Group’s roster. Proving that the time spent under acclaimed producer Chris Henderson’s tutelage, and the honing of his own vocal craft has paid dividends in Montreal’s evolution into a certified musical craftsman.
A few months back Montreal Whitmore dropped his lovelorn single and supporting video for “Take It Back”. You can’t help but love the sound of his voice, the lyrical flow, and a style that only someone with the talent that Montreal has, can present.
If you’ve ever been in love (and who hasn’t), the song immediately takes you to a place in life where you ‘felt that, been there, and remember that moment,’ as if it were yesterday. Thanks mainly to the singer’s powerful narration skills, over and above his authentically persuasive voice.
Montreal Whitmore sings with a tight, keening edge to his voice that makes it rather distinctive, even set off against a layer of synth pads and general soulful instrumental fusion. Montreal snakes his vocals through every verse like he’s running wire through narrow holes in the groove: precise yet flexible.
Stuff that owes its lifeblood to the likes of Donny Hathaway and Smokey Robinson. The guy sounds great—pushing and pulling the melody, reconciling the words, twisting his vocal sound inside and out for just the right emotional effect, and then switching into falsetto for the moment the song requires it to.
Elegant and understated, with a rich and hypnotic voice, Montreal Whitmore is the exact opposite of what many of today’s hit makers embody. And what he proves beyond a shadow of a doubt with his latest release, “Take It Back”, is that a modern-day R&B singer doesn’t have to employ an army of auto-tuning effects and glittery guest appearance to make a compellingly soulful recoding. A well-written song, with a strong narrative and a great voice to carry the momentum will do the trick.
“Take It Back”, is a simple, yet sublime song, built on a foundation of a masterful melody and all-embracing instrumentation – the hallmarks of an artist in full command of his artistic range and finesse.
