(July 12, 2022) Noel Gourdin’s life path gives him the ability to embrace R&B’s new school and its old school. He was born in Massachusetts where he sang in church and got exposed to a everyone from Otis Redding to New Jack Swing. Gourdin spent summers vacationing at his grandparent’s home Mississippi where he heard blues, Southern soul and traditional gospel. That broad musical background has blessed Gourdin with one of the most distinct yet adaptable voices in contemporary R&B music.
Gourdin possesses a powerful and earthy baritone that hearkens back to a previous era of soul singers who knew how to merge their masculine voices and stage presence with musical stories that allowed them to reveal their vulnerable sides. Gourdin showcases the same vocal qualities throughout his career and most notably on his biggest and most enduring hit, 2008’s “The River.”
Now Gourdin returns with a new cut, “Get To You,” that serves as a further showcase for his diverse musical palate. The track finds Gourdin embracing a contemporary R&B vibe that fuses mid-tempo stepper’s arrangement with hip-hop infused production techniques. Gourdin adopts a laid back, conversational vocal delivery as he moves from strategizing how to approach a particularly attractive woman that he spots at the club to his efforts to woo her. Check out Gourdin’s “Get To You” here.
By Howard Dukes
Noel Gourdin – “Get To You”
