Aysha Lorén – Your Love (Island Mix) – Review

July 6, 2023

Aysha Lorén: Your Love (Island Mix) Single Review by Mr Topple for Pauzeradio.com.

You can tell when an artist writes a track in Jamaica, as the Caribbean vibes shine through. And that’s the case on Aysha Lorén’s latest cuts, which shows ‘her love’ for the island as well as other genres.

Your Love (in this case the Island Mix) is a bold, simmering, and fresh song from West London-based Lorén. Co-produced by herself and Adrian McKenzie, the original of the track was released in late 2022 – but given the time of year, this warm cut is well worth a revisit.

So, the track is undeniably a Lover’s Rock-laced one – what Lorén has become known for. Keys run a bubble rhythm intermittently throughout, which has been arranged to allow the feel of the genre to ebb and flow. The regal horns step in and out at times, performing bright refrains at the end of some phrases. The inclusion of occasional steel drums is a pleasing choice, too.

Meanwhile, the bass runs a drop-beat rhythm across a rich and rounded timbre deep down its register – winding around a melodic line that is filled with movement. There are also some nice touches of Reggae engineering – like the rhythmic reverb that is laced across the horns at times.

However, Your Love is really a Soul ballad at heart. Drums avoid a one drop, instead seeing the kick hit the downbeats, while the snare focuses on the two and four, and hi-hats fill the space in between. There are some nice open hi-hat slurps at the ends of bars, too.

Two other elements make up Your Love. There’s a lovely use of an electric organ, layered with vibrato which crosses those Reggae-Soul boundaries perfectly. It performs pleasing mixtures of riffs and chords and fits perfectly with the style. Then, the electric guitar also blurs the lines between genres. It sounds Surf Rock, with its mid-to-treble on the amp and playing nearer the bridge creating a warm, oceanic, and tropical tone – enhanced using reverb and some vibrato. Its simple chords are perfectly placed and fit the track perfectly.

Overall, Your Love’s arrangement is delicious – laid-back Soul but with some hints of Lover’s Rock Reggae throughout. Then, Lorén delivers a soulful vocal performance to match.

She has a superb voice: rich and rounded in the lower range of her register, powerful in her upper chest voice, and then delicate but warm across her top-end head voice. She employs excellent use of varying dynamics – flitting from seductive pianissimo on the early verses before the tension builds to the track’s forte conclusion. What’s also nice about Lorén’s performance is her controlled use of vibrato – it’s not excessive, which here would detract. She performs pleasing runs at points, some well-executed glissandos, and some good improv too. Her head voice range is particularly impressive, as well, and extremely controlled. Lorén should also be credited for the fact she’s done the backing vocals – running a mixture of harmonisation and call and response duties.

Overall, Your Love (Island Mix) is a sumptuous and interesting track from Lorén and McKenzie. Merging genres very well, it is vibrant and appealing – and as a track to revisit in the summer, just perfect. Wonderful works.