Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
We Just Call It Love, and for some it may be a momentary lapse of reason in their day-to-day existence, a blip that starts to consume their being, that takes their brain and soul on a journey together which often defies reason; right until it makes sense, and then the harmony observed is crucial to the heart’s own intentions of feeling alive.
Art in any form is love, and no matter how you may find your own way to have your heartbeat faster, there is a part reserved for the classic of another’s tune to ignite a fire in your body that you may learn you should never have ignored.
The art of the crooner is long established, it is more than just about crafting a song that fixates upon building a bridge between the emotions in a voice that is smooth and fiercely cool, it is a strength that insists love can be permanent if cared for properly and with endurance.
In the fourth studio recording by Dennis van Aarssen and Jeff Franzel, the collaboration is one of absolute conviction, a growth of mutual admiration between composer and the man who took The Voice in the Netherlands by storm; Just Call It Love marks a beautiful sense of conquest, a triumph of understanding the soul of human loss when a kiss goodbye is never repeated.
Lyrically pulsating, musically large and enticing, Dennis van Aarssen and Jeff Franzel combine with majesty, and on tracks such as Golden Days, the self-aware Me and the Guy at the Piano, The Little Things, Do Some Good, and Cry for a Day, the pair rejoin at the keys and the microphone to bring the memory of what crooning, of serenading with intent, really entails. In the richness of delivery and tone both artists find their souls deepened by the arrangement, and it is one to savour.
Just Call It Love, for in its reveal the affection of sound and emotion are passionate and tender.
Dennis van Aarssen and Jeff Franzel release Just Call It Love On March 15th.
Ian D. Hall