“She Makes Beauty” by Marc Bosserman

Throughout the past seventy years or so, singer/songwriters have enjoyed a boom and bust economy for better or worse, with some of the most profound music of the folk genre coming in times of minimal spotlight for its musicians. That said, the influx of smart singer/songwriter talent we’re seeing in the underground at the moment is nothing to scoff at, and players like Marc Bosserman are the reason why. While it might not be much conceptually, Bosserman’s new single “She Makes Beauty” is a concise potential hit for this player, and it represents some of the best that his scene currently has to offer.

There are definitely some rock elements in this arrangement, but they’re offered in such a minimalist fashion that they don’t really determine the greater aesthetics of the track. I get the impression from the way that Bosserman is coming into these verses that he’s a big fan of classic rock, and yet he’s steering clear of the overtly retro themes that have become increasingly common among his peers looking to make a continuation of an old school model. His is a much greater mission than that, and anyone who gives this track a spin is more than likely to agree with me.

This pop vocal doesn’t feel the least bit forced, but instead neatly nestled between the beats as to create as much of a barrier between the rhythm and harmony as possible. Bosserman wants to establish a bit of separation in this arrangement, and it’s because of this that we’re able to really appreciate all of the different intricacies that the song is constructed around. A more streamlined look wouldn’t have worked for the narrative nor the story this performer wants to make his own with “She Makes Beauty,” and he was smart to leave it on the sidelines entirely.

It would be interesting to hear how Marc Bosserman is going to play this live, and I’ve got a feeling that he would be able to breathe a little more blue-eyed soul into a proper concert performance than he would anything recorded from within the constricting walls of a recording studio. He’s got a freewheeling spirit – that much I can tell just from listening to the way he sings the lyrics in “She Makes Beauty” – and it’s on the stage where such a light is able to shine the way it was always supposed to.

I’m very curious to hear what Marc Bosserman is going to be recording next, but I think to rush any of his creative virtues would be to deny us a true perception of what he’s able to do when nothing is pressuring him to get over a creative hump. He’s got a lot of moxie in this performance, but it’s always controlled to such an extent that we can focus on the instrumental details contextualizing the lyrics. His able command of this composition tells me that he’s only just now getting started, and whatever comes out of his camp in the future is probably going to warrant another sit-down.

Mindy McCall