In his second official single, “Touch the Burning Sky,” David Drake makes his artistic priorities more than clear with a firm melodicism and signature music video that are almost certain to raise an eyebrow among alternative audiences this year. Establishing himself as a vocal-focused singer/songwriter, Drake doesn’t neglect to afford the backdrop in “Touch the Burning Sky” a bit of lush instrumentation – the best of which, mind you, seems designed to connect with the framing of the video. If you’re not already listening to his work, this is the sort of track that will leave you hungry for more of the creative passion he brings to the table.
The juxtaposition of jagged instrumentation and smoothly melodic vocals in this mix is, for lack of a better term, spectacular. There’s a moment close to the midway point in the track in which Drake’s vocal is almost as fragile as the acoustic guitar he’s playing is, and yet the two never get muddied in the ensuing harmony that transpires before us in real time. A defined production style prevents anything from getting lost in translation here, which is a nice feature when considering just how much detail there really is to appreciate.
While I dig “Touch the Burning Sky” on its own, the music video made in support of its release absolutely magnifies its narrative and gives it all the more a poetic feel (especially in the context of 2020’s growing isolationist culture). It’s intensely relevant and multi-interpretive on a couple of different levels, which, for being sourced from a completely independent and totally untried source, is really something to applaud. Drake didn’t need a lot of training to get into this medium; his talent is real, authentic and not assisted by the synthetic components a lot of other artists would just as soon lean on.
I don’t know where this singer/songwriter came from and what took him so long to get something recorded professionally, but after listening to “Touch the Burning Sky” I feel like it’s safe to say he’s destined for stardom – as long as he keeps his nose to the grindstone. He’s broken off two really stimulating singles in his career thus far, and with the release of this new music video he verifies to a lot of folks within the establishment that he has the ability to spread his creative communique across different styles of media all while maintaining a consistent identity in his work.
