“Good Lovin’” by Samantha Gibb

In the music video for her new single “Good Lovin’,” singer/songwriter Samantha Gibb is putting us in the recording studio beside her and a slew of colorful, inclusive imagery that is certain to warm your heart and put a little drive your day. Where a lot of players are content to make lyric videos that focus solely on the substance of the verses alone, this is an artist who wants to take things a step further here, and her ambitiousness is producing one of the more vibrant releases of its kind to come out of the underground in a while.

I like that Gibb isn’t in a big hurry to hit the chorus here; in fact, the way she takes her time working through these lyrics is rather assertive and telling of her investment in the story being told. She’s got a lot of space to melodically spread out in this piece, but she’s being rather conservative with the arrangement, almost as if to show us that she doesn’t have to use every inch of room to sound dynamic and larger-than-life when it actually counts for something. That’s more disciplined than the competition, and something I want to see and hear more of from her rivals.

The influence of soul music in this player’s sound is hard to ignore, especially if you’ve got an affinity for the genre and listen closely to her execution in “Good Lovin’.” She isn’t relying on the bassline to squeeze out a groove, but instead leaning into her instrumentation and becoming one with the backing band, much as some of the giants of soul once did some six decades ago. It’s relaxed by comparison to the greats, but this is nonetheless cut from the same cloth that helped to produce the likes of Otis Redding.

These verses don’t see Gibb holding anything back from us emotionally, and she never hesitates to put as much oomph into her words as the adjacent melodies can handle. There’s something to be said about being efficient, but if there was ever a proper moment to be indulgent, we find it in the likes of “Good Lovin’,” which features a singer who knows she can use this voice to do so much more than merely speak (or sing, for that matter). It’s an extension of her soul, and it’s putting a perfect imprint on this track.

I’ll be very curious to see and hear where the sound of “Good Lovin’” takes Samantha Gibb in the future, but if there’s anything we’re to learn about her artistry from listening to this song on its own, it’s that she isn’t going to restrict her output to the limitations of her peers – the opposite, in all honesty. She’s going out on a limb with the concept in this single and making it sound like an exquisite upbeat ballad coming straight from the heart, and I hope that I have the chance to hear her future work as it relates to the story she’s still telling.

Mindy McCall