Following on from SMABTO and New Job, Just Chemistry is the latest single from London-based and female-fronted trio Dance Lessons.
Just Chemistry floats upon a loose percussive bed, with vocalist Ann’s statuesque vocal performance elevating the sound to some sort of earthy-disco. The song feels unfussy in parts, yet boasts a sophisticated yet relatively unfussy sound — there are layers, but each sound still commands its own space.
Among all of this sophisticated and understated pop is a saxophone. I love a bit of saxophone, but it can be overpowering. Not so here, where it embellishes and enhances what is here, without overwhelming it. In fact, it lends the track a level of expensive sophistication that contrasts to the easy accessibility on show elsewhere.
Describing the song, Ann says:
“Just Chemistry is about the over-complication of our relationships. It’s about the things that are left unsaid in-between the awkward text messages and conversations, and how the absence of knowing can be misinterpreted as doubt. Last year was a difficult one. For a long time, I felt at the mercy of my emotions. I doubted where things were going. I lived in the future and found it hard to commit to the present. But these moments of not knowing can be equally thrilling and beautiful. And that’s what the song is about: finding beauty in the unspoken. In most cases, it’s chemistry that makes us fall in love. Things end, all is temporary. Let’s not go to war with one another over it.”
Just Chemistry exhibits the humanity and complexity I believe the song is shooting for, and yet it also points to a natural and universal simplicity that exists in all our relationships, and in music itself. Check it out below: