“I Want to Be Your Lover” is an inviting new track from Jacob Milstein, an artist based in Oklahoma City and Nashville. Bird-chirping and gentle acoustics establish a warming introduction, bolstered by the “there were bluebirds on both my shoulders” lyrical scene-setting.
Soothing vocal layers, with shades of Leonard Cohen, emerge thereafter. The “go toward the light” vocal beckoning ventures enjoyably into the title-touting radiance, showcasing an enjoyable tonal range between subdued intrigue and effervescent emotion — resulting a sound with heartfelt nostalgia, and touches of Cohen and Lou Reed.
Milstein elaborates on the release, which is is the first track on his new album LOVER (Invitation to a Ritual):
“I was inspired after seeing a documentary on the Velvet Underground… there’s a line in it I think John Cale says: “to be delicate… and to be brutal.” I wanted to express the same dynamic. I made it DIY style at home, layering in hushed finger-stroked guitars, close-mic’d finger-tapped congas, a harmonica that drones like a distant foghorn, an ambient gong, and a choir of humming, all to get across a feeling of some kind of rare antique ceremony being stumbled on, or like the opening of a century flower.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
