Sung in a warm, friendly, airy tenor, Ally Kerr’s “Lucky Streak” is laid cooly on a bed of acoustic jangle and sparse piano: the lingua franca of the feel-good ditty.
What’s in a voice? Or more to the point, what’s in a singer’s singing voice?
That sounds like an inane thing to ask. But if you really think about it, a person’s vocal style – and on top of that, his tone and timbre – is really a cumulative stand-in for speech.
In other words, it’s not only a medium to ferry over a message, but also the message in and of itself.
If you put Ally Kerr’s voice up on that rostrum, I think it’s pretty safe to say that he – or, rather, his voice – has thus far delivered an almost-certain dose of optimism. And in the case of his newest single “Lucky Streak,” he does sing about it, too.
There’s a Kurt Vonnegut quote that I like whipping out on occasion – I’m sure tons of others do the same – and it has to do with the acknowledgement of joy when it comes around. “I urge you to please notice when you are happy,” he said, “and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is’.”
Kerr’s “Lucky Streak” is like the folk-song avatar of that lovely quote.
“[It] explores finding inner contentment rather than seeking it externally,” the singer-songwriter explains of the tune, adding that inner peace is often “overlooked,” and that we tend to instead “[chase] after the next (ultimately unsatisfactory) thing in an endless loop.”
Sung in a warm, friendly, airy tenor, the song is laid cooly on a bed of acoustic jangle and sparse piano: the lingua franca of the feel-good ditty. And that vibrant, kiddie-tune chorus does tug at the heartstrings: “Buddy, don’t you see. You’ve been on a lucky streak, a guarantee / Buddy, let it be. Unlock that peace inside, the master key, you’re home free.”
Incidentally, “Lucky Streak” also breaks Kerr’s spell of sparse voice-and-fingerstyle-guitar tracks, employing full instrumentation this time around. “This one is upbeat: lots of guitars, punchy drums. It’s part of the mix of styles and instrumentation I often include in my albums,” Kerr says, alluding to earlier releases prior to getting aboard the Lilystars roster.
But no matter.
Kerr’s voice may not offer earth-shattering uniqueness but repeatedly delivers on a promise we don’t often accept: Humanity always trumps art, and that’s more than enough.