If there’s a soulful twist to your verses and a humble tone in your voice at all times, who says you need more than a well-plucked six-string to make a hit rockabilly single? In his new release “Constellation High,” Canadian singer/songwriter Vili V goes out of his way to remind audiences that keeping it simple in rockabilly can sometimes yield some of the most stimulating results the genre can produce.
We start with a nice groove from the guitar that quickly becomes a joint foundation of melody and rhythm for the duration of the song. Vili takes a second stepping into the frame, but when he does, his hesitance carries over to the lyrics and creates a bit of fragility in the poetic content soon slipping away from his lips. He’s writing himself into these words and asking us to join him in a half-introspective, half-romanticized break from reality, and though I can’t speak for everyone in 2024, I have a feeling a lot of people could go for something along those lines as we get into a strange and unpredictable mid-spring season.
There’s lust in the lyrics of “Constellation High,” and if you listen to them closely enough, it becomes as potent a force to be reckoned with as any thrust from the electric guitar is. I don’t think that the addition of a complete backing band would have changed the identity of this track, but I do believe that keeping it as to the point and straightforward as Vili did benefits the authenticity of the lyricism quite a bit.
My man’s vocal alludes to the uncertainty that anyone feels when they’re toeing the edge of love’s cliff, but it’s presented in such conservative doses that we’re never overwhelmed by the intensity of the moment he’s ultimately describing here. The cosmetics in this single are deceptively even; upon closer inspection, there’s a lot to the timing and pace of this music that expresses emotion that words can only do so much to illustrate on their own. When verses won’t do the job, this is a singer/songwriter who isn’t afraid to use whatever tools will help him get his point across.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/constellation-high/1726285225?i=1726285226
“Constellation High” is a surprisingly stimulating rockabilly track that had me googling Vili V for more information a little over an hour after I heard it for the first time, and while it’s not the first new single that had me feeling like this was going to be a country-addict spring, it’s certainly one of the best I’ve heard so far this March. Vili has a lot to be proud of as a singer, songwriter, and conceptualist, but I’d love to hear him focus more on the versatility of his vocals in the next track he releases. There’s more to his skills as a crooner than has been explored thus far, and with continued experimentation in and outside of the recording studio, this veteran player could well make the name for himself that so many of his peers have failed to with their output.
Gwen Waggoner
