Albert Artis Releases “I Feel Your Love”

With a voice like his, Albert Artis could sing just about anything to us and have an impact on the whole of the audience. Artis doesn’t have to use a lot of fanciful studio tricks, indulgent features, or other over-the-top elements to get the attention of a large crowd, and if there’s a single that proves this player’s abilities, it’s his new release “I Feel Your Love.” Depicting his relationship with God in no uncertain terms, this singer and songwriter lets his emotions run wild in “I Feel Your Love,” making it all the easier for us to connect with the story he’s looking to tell here.

Visually, the music video for this song is pretty simple, but it focuses on the theme of Artis’ message quite elegantly. The use of stark white clothing and sandy beaches touches on biblical elements subtly but not without the viewer noticing, and I would say that among the crossover gospel content I’ve reviewed in 2022, this is one of the more accessible releases of a non-exclusionary nature to have landed on my desk in a while. This is open to anyone who needs positivity in their life, which cannot be said for all of the releases in this genre of music.

Rather than circling us with a beat, the percussion is hitting up against the verses where the pressure points in the song are, replicating the thrust of a heart when two lovers connect for the very first time. The passion is boundless in “I Feel Your Love,” and I don’t know that the recording studio is making much of a difference in purifying it – or stifling it – at all. While others need a stage to get to this level, Albert Artis just needs a microphone and a listener on the other end.

Almost all of the emotionality in “I Feel Your Love” is conveyed through the fragility of this arrangement as opposed to any legitimate onslaught of power, which winds up being one of the elements giving Albert Artis a very individualistic profile in this performance. He doesn’t sound like he’s trying to replicate anyone else’s identity with this piece, but instead trying to give as personal a statement as possible, one after another, set to a musical soundscape that is both ambient and stinging in nature depending on where you’re analyzing it from.

Albert Artis’ “I Feel Your Love” is a fresh, beautifully written ballad that has the potential to touch a lot of souls this late summer, and if you’re inclined towards gospel music in any capacity, I think you’re going to have something nice to say about the performance he’s giving here. The gospel genre is among the more insular in all of western music, but it doesn’t feel unreachable when an artist like this one is presenting it from the heart. I do, in fact, feel the affection Artis has to share here, and I sincerely would love to hear more of it from his camp soon.

Mindy McCall