Wearing his emotion on his sleeve through a profound introduction with “It’s Lost” and scarcely giving up an easy beat – save for the pop playfulness of “Shine” – singer/songwriter George Mallas is a man on a mission in his new album Let the Day Decide, and that mission starts with getting us as entranced with his melodic wit as possible. Let the Day Decide isn’t fanciful nor filled with the kind of complicated songcraft that has become all too typical in a lot of the American underground over the past ten years, but instead a casual approach to elements of rhythm and rhyme that is refreshing to come across this summer for certain.
The title track in Let the Day Decide showcases versatility whereas “Chasing Rainbows” or “For Love” are meant to give us a feel for the identity of this player, particularly as it relates to his ability to marry smart verses with passive grooves. He’s got a lot of talent worth exposing in this collection of songs, but never does he feel the need to press on cosmetic details, as that would wholly take something away from the point he’s trying to make not only about his artistry but the genre that he exists within.
There are different ways to make a pop album, all of them arguably valid, but I’m a really big fan of the non-repetitiveness of this style featured in Let the Day Decide. Not only does Mallas avoid repeating a theme across the entirety of the tracklist here, but he’s going out of his way to present different emotional subtext with nearly every stanza he issues.
There are instances where a song feels more like a suite than a standard pop track, and I’m not just talking about “My Beliefs / The Prayer;” “Your Name” and “Go and Behold” are two works that don’t ever beg for the skip button, even after a couple of proper sit-downs with this LP. Mallas’s novel use of indulgence in other songs like “History” and “It’s Lost” winds up lending a lot of symmetry to Let the Day Decide than what we would have had otherwise, with the brooding linchpin in the tracks serving as the true centerpiece of the music. It’s impressive for an indie release, and certainly more intriguing than I would expect from a commercially-backed album.
Soft pop lovers of all stripes can’t go wrong with the material George Mallas has assembled for us in this LP, and if you haven’t had the chance to sit down with it since its June 26th release date, now might be the right moment to give it a spin. This is a very summer-centric offering, with light and airy beats that frame the harmonies as nothing else could, and I’m curious to find out what kind of an influence it’s going to have over the demand for this artist in the future. I like what I’ve heard so far, and my gut tells me he’ll have even more to share in the right setting.
Mindy McCall
![[VIDEO] ‘Up Here’ Trailer, Release Date — Mae Whitman Musical](https://tvline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/up-here-trailer-hulu.png?w=620)
