Bruce Sudano can’t seem to release a new single without attracting a lot of buzz, and in this regard, his song “Fatal Love” and its accompanying music video are no different. Although “Fatal Love” is supported by a folk-pop-style harmony, its beat feels more like that of a soft rock track than it does anything wholly acoustic in style. Sudano’s never been one to hold back from experimenting with his limits, going back over the past five decades of his career as a songwriter, and I was quite interested when I heard the first few bars of this latest single to bear his name in the byline.
The verses of this song reinforce the mood created by the instruments as opposed to the other way around, but I won’t say that the lyrics are lacking the depth other Sudano tracks have had. Contrarily, I think this is a scenario where our leading man wants to make more of a point with the backdrop than he does with the substance of his words. He’s got something to say, but judging from how he constructed this single, it’s not a statement he can make using poetic linguistics on their own.
Watch the video for “Fatal Love” below
It’s easy to appreciate the versatility of the harmonies in this song, and I would even say that they’re some of the more freeform of any I’ve listened to in a Bruce Sudano single thus far. He’s just so relaxed in the studio that he doesn’t have to fight the impulsive strut of the strings to find his place in the melody – he’s already there the moment he begins to sing. Say what you will about disciplined arranging, but this is a performer who could probably perform improvisations with as much panache and confidence behind the mic as he would original material he’s penned and rehearsed himself.
An iconic career continues to impress with the arrival of “Fatal Love” this spring, and whether you’re a newcomer to Bruce Sudano’s music or have been following him through the many years and star singles he’s both written and released, this is a song and music video that are worth taking a peek at. Folk music is getting a second wind in 2022 that a lot of audiences and critics alike might not have guessed just a year ago, and in “Fatal Love,” we get to hear one of the genre’s best contemporary voices, in my opinion.
