How To Write A Music Review

Although it’s easier to write a negative review of any kind of musical production, anyone can also write a music review to make others want to listen to a song, album or even an entire discography.

The world needs more trusted filters for social recommendation of music and even though YouTube reviewers hog all the glory, there is a quiet dignity in reviewing music with prose. Besides, since music is all about discovery, literary reviews are better suited for maintaining the required distance between the reviewer and the art which is necessary if we want to allow the listener’s curiosity to bloom.

With this overarching objective (to make the listener curious rather than satisfied), let me offer the five most important things to keep in mind while reviewing any piece of music:

1. Interested is interesting — it’s nice to begin with a sense of hope and enthusiasm. Try to show the reader right upfront how interested you are in the music you are reviewing. In 2011, while writing for The Silent Ballet, I started my review of Stephan Mathieu’s album ‘A Static Place’ with a formal definition of the word ‘Static’ as given by the International Telecommunications Union. That was how interested I was in the album.

2. Offer immersion — weather you’re diving into the work as a whole or offering inputs on a song-by-song basis, (or albumwise, or picking indivisible moments within one song to write about) be sure to paint a vivid picture of weather the music takes you where it claims to. Viscerally reveal the unfolding of your imagination in terms of rhythm, melody, percussion, timbre etc. If you listen closely, all music is a either a journey or a destination. Describe it in as much detail as possible.

3. Be interdisciplinary — occasionally the journey won’t simply be an adventure, it might be a struggle. Similarly the destination might not simply be an idealised visual of a physical place, it might be a political utopia. Ask yourself what the music is really about without suspending judgements about the context of its production. If you know the artist to be an alcoholic, for example, include that insight into your understanding but also go deeper and ask why. Invoke science and religion in the same sentence, remember that you’re really an anthropologist — especially if you’re reviewing anything that was produced outside a thousand miles radius from where you belong.

4. Be a synesthete — music isn’t just for the ears and you know it. Dig deep into what other senses are invigorated and write about it. Being direct and honest will be most useful here, if it makes your pussy wet then write “this music makes my pussy wet”, that’ll rouse enough curiosity, especially if you’re a male reviewer.

5. Offer ideal listening environments — goes without saying and has been done to death. I’m not the biggest fan of this approach since it does half the listener’s job for her but an especially fitting recommendation is never unwarranted.

Lastly, ask the kind of questions that make you turn towards music in the first place. This is personal and reveals about you as a listener. For me, it’s questions like: Was Amy Winehouse just a disturbed soul with a talent or was she a philosopher of the economically frustrated British middle class? Do Adele’s mezzo-soprano overtures and interludes hide or reveal the deep seeded urban decay that lies at the heart of modern feminism? Is MF DOOM really a modern day Gil Scot Heron?

Music is never just music, unveil the social commentary and help interpret it, but don’t just theorize.