Bruce Sudano “Cosmic Ride”

If there’s one element of his music that Bruce Sudano isn’t afraid to tweak in the name of making a more complete narrative, it’s the tempo, and his new single “Cosmic Ride” reinforces as much from one verse to the next. Rather than putting all of the stock in this performance into the substance of the lyrics, or even the melodic trappings that are made to frame them here, Sudano’s implementation of provocative rhythm as a means of furthering the emotionality of a rhyme is something to marvel at indeed. “Cosmic Ride” is quite the ethereal journey to the swinging side of retro pop, and more than worthy of its hype this autumn. 

URL: https://www.brucesudano.com/

Texture is always a component of expressiveness in Bruce Sudano’s music, and in this sense, his new single is no different than the previous works he’s released. “Cosmic Ride” sports quite the rigid bassline, but it needs this element to really drive home the physicality of the beat. Were he not using other instrumental faceting to increase his depth, this artist would have to use the same synthetic nonsense his competition does – which clearly isn’t something he’s comfortable doing by any stretch of the imagination. 

This mix amplifies the subtle details in the music rather than simply circumventing the minor intricacies in the name of highlighting one central point in the material, which is a far cry from the streamlined look most of the artists I follow have been utilizing. It guarantees a much fuller sound than the competition can muster up, and if I were in Sudano’s position I can’t really see doing things another way. He wants the complete richness of a live performance inside of his studio work, and he’s going out of his way to get precisely what he desires in this piece. 

Lyrically, “Cosmic Ride” isn’t overwhelmingly linguistic nor super profound in what its singer is actually saying to us – it’s the voice behind these words that shapes an emotional context for this release. I honestly don’t think this single would sound as passionate with a different artist at the mic, and being that he’s affording us the kind of incredibly intimate look that he is in both the video and the track, it’s all the harder to question his eminence as an original songwriter. His rivals are just as active, but he’s still setting the bar pretty out of reach for the masses. 

Bruce Sudano proves that tone is literally everything in the pop genre here, and whether you’re new to his music or have been keeping up with his output for a while now, I believe you’re going to walk away from “Cosmic Ride” feeling just as enthusiastic about its release as I do. This is an interesting chapter in the ongoing legacy of singer/songwriters on the American side of the border, but as long as he continues to produce on the level that he is in singles like this one, Sudano can count on his name being on quite a few pages of the history books. 

Mindy McCall