Sunday Soul - Mayer Hawthorne

I had been REALLY excited to check out Mayer Hawthorne's debut album A Strange Arrangement for a while now, so when I was able to pick it up last week, I was over the moon with excitement. Enough of his music has been out there circulating that I knew I was going to love it, and I certainly wasn't disappointed when I was finally able to listen to the entire thing. The only disappointing thing about it is that it's over in thirty five minutes.

The track I'm going to share today, I Wish It Would Rain, is one that you might have already heard, but I love it above and beyond a whole album of tracks I love. It opens with some notes that majorly remind me of the Weather Girls' It's Raining Men. Whether that's sheer coincidence or not, I can't tell you. Like many of the tracks on the album, this one fronts a retro simplicity to it, a simplicity which serves as a vehicle to share equally simple lyrics that are universally connectible to by every one of us who has suffered love lost.

well i wish that it would rain
heavy rain down from the sky
maybe then you wouldn't see the tear drops in my eye

well i wish that it would rain
it would be a great disguise
maybe then you wouldn't see the tear drops in my eye

and all of the rain drops
that fall down on my face
erase all the memories
of you and your embrace
i long for the moment
that i lose this bitter taste
and i don't want you to see me this way

Behind the tender lyrics are some smooth grooves straight from the Philly playbook. Check out the horns at 1:44 and tell me that they don't make you want to dust off your Delfonics' albums. Besides playing on the Philly tip, Mayer also drops some Motown inspired tunes as well, but everything here is original Hawthorne material. Needless to say, this disc hasn't left my car since I got it, and I'm already looking forward to what's he's got coming next.

Mayer Hawthorne - I Wish It Would Rain : A Strange Arrangement

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