“Transitions” by Todd Curry

The beat is pulsating like a living heart bewitched by that of divine love in the new single “Transitions” by Todd Curry, and although this is a single and music video largely inspired by the power of change through the gospel, it’s ironically one of the most embracive listens I’ve had the chance to spend any time with in the past few years. You can always know when an artist doesn’t have as much depth as they advertise, and conversely, I think you can tell right off the bat that Curry is someone who isn’t just making music for the heck of it, but genuinely pursuing a career in the medium. He’s a go-getter and a creative mastermind for certain.

Every artist has a professional display case per se, and it’s what they provide us in this case that tells us the most about the kind of narrative they want to construct. The gospel press has been trying to give Curry a lot of love for a minute now, but he doesn’t sound like the entirety of his material is being constructed just to get a couple of fresh looks from the critics and award-giving entities of the world. Instead, there’s a lot of personality and unforced swing in this piece, both of which I’ve had a hard time finding in most of the pop music that happens to get approved by critics and a label in ways that an awful mainstream rock song would never be able to be. This is technical, but not at all overboard.

You can’t look at an insular music video like that which Curry recorded for “Transitions” without seeing the cultural tethering between its design and the strife of the modern world, especially stateside, but even with this being the case I don’t think we’re looking at something that is so removed as to sound political or similar to what his peers want to do. It’s getting harder to rebrand the conceptualism that the first part of the new gospel movement inspired whether we were ready for it or not, and I think artists owe players like this one a real debt of gratitude for it. The highways this singer and songwriter rides are open-ended, and he’s able to take us along for a ride like few others would here.

It’s a good time to be a lover of quality gospel music in general, but if you’re into Todd Curry, this could be a really big moment for you as a follower. “Transitions” is getting even more buzz than initially projected by many outlets, and at the rate it’s moving I think that Curry might be dealing with another chart-topper. He’s got the artistic ambition to do what he wants when he wants in and outside of the studio, but right now I think it’s good this player is keeping things rather conservative all things considered. This is a recording artist who does not need the bells and whistles that his less-than-exciting peers are having to utilize in their own work now, and “Transitions” is a song that confirms his eminence beyond argument.

Mindy McCall