Kaleb Hikele – Slowly
“Slowly” is the latest release by Kaleb Hikele, an outstanding Canadian singer-songwriter based in Toronto. It’s a debut single from “Storytelling,” his upcoming solo full-length album, and a third standalone single in 2025, arriving after “Fire Fighter’s Son” and “Weather This War,” two excellent compositions released earlier this year that you should also check out as soon as possible. Arriving with such calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal notes and beats yet resonating with powerful instrumentations when necessary, “Slowly” is suitable for anyone who appreciates cleverly written, tastefully composed, and flawlessly performed music. Lyrically, “Slowly” is a love song that narrates the early stages of falling in love. It explores relationship, various sentiments, mood, situations, and circumstances, making it a highly relatable composition that will resonate with a broader audience. Sonically, Kaleb Hikele combines a singer-songwriter approach with various styles to depict a luxuriant sonic imagery. Perhaps indie dominates in the mix, as its subgenres like indie folk, indie pop, and indie rock lurk around the most, but you’ll also hear how some of the finest properties borrowed from classic folk and alternative rock found their way into this sonic equation. Kaleb Hikele uses all these additional elements as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift his music to an entirely new level while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Therefore, these experimentations with many various approaches, techniques, and music genres resulted in a fascinating composition that will not only appeal to singer-songwriter and indie folk fans, but also to anyone who appreciates music performed straight from the heart.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
There’s something about Kaleb Hikele’s vocal performance that makes “Slowly” so catchy, memorable, addictive, hypnotic, and irresistible. Whether he’s exploring those low registers during the verses or leaning toward high notes during the choruses, his voice delivers sincere emotion that tackles all the senses. His voice perfectly balances low, mid, and high notes with such precision and finesse, emphasizing everything he intended to achieve with this composition. Besides decorating all those segments and orchestrations, elevating everything to new heights, and acting as a centerpiece of this sonic equation, his vocal performance also delivers more than necessary emotional depth and complexity to an already intricate structure. “Slowly” is packed with the finest vocal performance you’ll hear in years, and it vividly shows how much Kaleb Hikele has fully invested himself in this track. In the meantime, the guitars shape a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll notice all those jangly, angular, thoughtfully arranged chord progressions lurking around and constructing a delicate soundscape that becomes even more detailed, luxuriant, and fascinating as the song progresses. There’s a subtle touch of reverb incorporated over these orchestrations, giving a colossal feel to the overall ambiance. Of course, as the song approaches the chorus, Kaleb Hikele incorporates generous servings of distortion spiced with a touch of spring reverb for some extra detail. These heavier moments contribute more groove, power, details, and dynamics, yet the song retains the same emotion this clever artist intended to convey.
This composition wouldn’t sound complete without the rock-solid rhythm section. You’ll notice all those vividly hearable, warm-sounding, intricate basslines, rumbling beneath the guitars and offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth to this composition while simultaneously acting as a binding element between the mentioned instrumentations and rhythmic patterns. These low-ends are rich, deep, and heavy, offering even more groove and detail. In the meantime, the excellent drumming performance based upon tastefully arranged, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated, moderate beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keeps everything in line while dictating the groove and pace. You’ll hear how each hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation on the hi-hat, and splash over the cymbals cuts through the ambiance, making this song even more powerful and complex. Each instrument has its place and purpose here, proving that Kaleb Hikele thought about everything while writing, composing, arranging, recording, and producing this composition.
“Slowly” is one of the finest love songs in recent years, performed by an outstanding singer-songwriter who unquestionably knows how to convey honest emotions through soulful, meaningful, and powerful vocal, sonic, and rhythmic performance. You should immediately place it on your music radar if you’re looking for indie music performed straight from the heart. The single is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!
https://youtu.be/peEXfRWXiW8?si=qdpKLpvYLxHYH0VX
https://open.spotify.com/track/53tQfyqkJomoOsSTxIhpgl?si=18fca18ad5a048fc
#INDIE #INDIEFOLK #INDIEPOP #INDIEROCK #KALEMHIKELE #MUSIC #REVIEWS #SINGERSONGWRITER
Photo by Johnny Moto
Photo by Crackerfarm 
