Gary Dranow is a former athlete turned musician based in Utah. Along with his band Gary Dranow and the Manic Emotions, he has built up an impressive and elaborate discography unbounded by the rigid definitions of genre. The result is a music project willing to experiment with a new sonic theme with each track and their latest single “China Rose” is proof of this.

“Chine Rose” is a playful rock single that begins with hard-hitting percussion that holds much of the energy of the track. The high-pitched keys give off the playful and fun ambience some of which comes off as even innocent and adolescent. The guitar is grungy and groovy forming one of the fundamental elements on the track. The vocal performance is at its peak when the instrumentation slows down at the pre-chorus section. The background vocals in the bridge as well as the vocal harmonies in the chorus provide an angelic effect. The bridge uses sound effects as a device to create ambience. The fact that the guitar solo doesn’t deviate much from the original melody was interesting to me and gave the track thematic coherence.

Lyrically Gary Dranow explores the dreams, aspirations and actions of a woman in third person. We get that she desires to be in Hollywood, surrounded by scripts and embodying conventional beauty standards.  The penmanship is quite visual as the track manages to paint a picture of this dream world rather than just tell us about it.

“China Rose” is a track by Gary Dranow that is sonically untried and lyrically experimental.