SINGLE REVIEW: Never Gonna Let You Go by Rob Alexander

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Music is the greatest communicator of emotion known to humankind, and although he primarily works as a doctor, Rob Alexander uses the melodies he makes in his latest single “Never Gonna Let You Go” to heal just as much as he does the tools of his main trade. Harmony is the essence of love in this song, while rhythm contextualizes the feelings that this love can create in our everyday lives, and through all of the twists and turns in the composition, Alexander is there to remind us that he’s going to stay with us no matter what it takes.

The vocal harmonies are startlingly evocative in “Never Gonne Let You Go,” and sometimes, they’re even more poetic than Alexander’s verses are (which doesn’t happen very often in this guy’s work). They color every one of the verses so beautifully, and even at their most simple and reserved, they impart a narrative that linguistics alone never possibly could. All of the tracks on the new album Being Myself are like this, but this particular song is perhaps the most formidable of them all, not because of its running time or sizable grooves, but because of its quaint, old fashioned-style of play.

Rob Alexander is compared to a young Elton John a lot, and while I’m not in total disagreement with my critical peers on this front, I do think that he does a lot to distinguish his work as his own in “Never Gonna Let You Go.” He’s got a lot in common with American folk/rock, particularly in this song, and it’s never really been discussed in the breakdown of his work prior to now. Being Myself could be a turning point in his career if it brings about further recognition of his diverse palate, which is exactly what I think he was going for here.

HEAR NOW: https://robalexander.hearnow.com/being-myself

“Never Gonna Let You Go” isn’t the most elaborate composition that Rob Alexander has ever recorded, but it has a certain theatrical feel that I didn’t detect at all among the songs in the tracklist of Long Road Coming Home, his last album. It would make a great soundtrack for a music video, but even if it’s never made into anything other than a popular song on the radio, it should be regarded as one of the more imagistic, both poetically and musically, of any to be released by an indie artist this November.

Being Myself is a stunner of an album, and one of the best examples of its many treasures is none other than “Never Gonna Let You Go.” It’s become one of my favorite new songs of the season, and while it’s partnered with a lot of other fabulous ballads in the LP, the harmonies that you find in its four minutes of play are the right kind of heavenly to bring in the holidays the right way. Alexander keeps on submitting gold-standard hits, and at this rate, he’s going to be raking in plenty more commendations from critics in the months and years ahead.

by Bethany Page