The acoustic guitar is a powerful instrument. By itself, it’s quite barebones and some may even find it unremarkable. But for the average story-teller the acoustic guitar is a key tool in your arsenal. This is the case with the opening of the latest Tia McGraff single, “With Love,” and it instantly caught our attention. From that alone, we knew we had to give it a full review, so join us as we go into thorough detail on this new single.
Tia McGraff is powerful vocalist, one that sings with emotion and sends a message with every song she writes. This also carries over to “With Love,” which is a song with a heavy message all about loving others and doing everything with love. It’s a positivity song, but one that carries with it a lot of emotional gravitas. Of course, it’s also relatively straightforward, which make sit work even better.
Starting on the music and instrumentation, we have to talk about the opening to the single. A single lone acoustic guitar punctuates the song’s beginning, as Tia sings softly about good deeds in life. It instantly captures your attention and absolutely does not let go. Such a fantastic hook right at the start of the song, and things only go up from there.
Musically, the song evolves throughout its runtime, adding instruments and elements to achieve a comforting but grand effect. It’s simultaneously epic while also feeling personal and homely. Things build up with time, rising to a crescendo that culminates in a strong climax. Then it slows down again, going back to being a soft, sweet single once again.
Production-wise, there’s a lot to like here once again, with the instrumentals being quite well mixed together. Everything meshes together in a pleasant and enjoyable way, which results in a song that’s so incredibly pleasant and enjoyable to listen to. We especially enjoy how the certain sounds rise and fall in volume throughout the mix in accordance to what the focus at the time is.
Overall, we really found a lot to like when it comes to “With Love,” by Tia McGraff. It sends a poignant message about intentions when doing kind things for others, and to always try and do everything with love and care. It’s a message that we need more than ever in the world, and we’re happy to see it be championed here. If you’re a fan of ballads, then this one will be right up your alley.
–Jason Airy
