Written for Critiques by SwanoDown
There’s a certain kind of heartbreak that doesn’t cry out, it leans back, lights a cigarette, and lets the saxophone do the talking. In The Wrong Man, Aly Berry embodies that energy with a velvet-wrapped sharpness that feels both classic and cutting.
Written by Berry and composed by Paul Higgs, the piece opens her forthcoming debut with cinematic precision. Scott Hamilton’s saxophone croons like a familiar ghost, floating over the understated finesse of Dave Green on bass and Neil Bullock’s brushwork on drums. The soundscape— slow, smoky, and deliberate, evokes the dim corners of a 1950s jazz lounge, where the truth is whispered rather than wailed.
Lyrically, Berry walks a fine line between confession and confrontation.
“Made me feel like I should beg for you, die for you. Please pardon me,”
she sings- not as a victim, but as someone stepping out from behind her own shadow.
The refrains are elegantly bitter, framed by playful jabs:
“You ain’t nothing but a clown… my mama would say no.”
Berry doesn’t overreach vocally, and that’s exactly the point. Berry’s strength is in restraint. She doesn’t demand the listener’s attention- she earns it with poise, clarity, and presence.
The Wrong Man isn’t just a torch song. It’s a reclamation with class, bite, and swing.
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