Aries Marquis
Experience
(Aries Marquis)

Bass, flute, and a heavy groove make the first song, “Dove Across The Ocean,” a solid opener of R&B/POP on singer/multi-instrumentalist Aries Marquis’ new album Experience.

“Daydream,” the third song in, with its simple piano and slower snapping beat, brings things down a bit. Still, Marquis’ expressive vocal is featured well, solo in the verses, then wonderfully layered (as he often does here) in the chorus. In the bridge, he gets to really express his emotions with a powerful falsetto.

This is a man who knows well how to work with, use, and produce his voice, that’s for damn sure!

The piano ballad “A Part of Me” gets us almost up to the end of the seven tracks offered. Here Marquis enlists a slightly different wavery lightness in his voice, showcasing his diversity well, I feel. The sweet, perfect choruses are rather heartbreaking. Overall, though I like all the songs, although this might just be my favorite. By the time this expert singer really gets to wail with his pipes, about midway, the listener is all but captured.

“Wanted,” with again, another snapping mid-tempo beat (if I have one criticism, it is the sameness of sound to the beats and percussion across Experience) ends the album, with slipped in synth lines, pretty much staying tight, locked and loaded until the end of its four-and-half minutes.