LadyDot Review: Odd Chap – Sunny Day
A summer banger, excellent Electro Swing and… 100-year-old samples! Odd Chap – “Sunny Day”
Do you too feel like you are constantly running out of time and your biggest dream is to extend your day by a few hours? If so, you know exactly how I feel right now. It has happened to me several times that I have not been able to review all the songs I wanted to present to you because I was running out of time too quickly. This time, unfortunately, that is also the case. On 12 August, our wonderful New Zealand Electro Swing artist, Odd Chap, released his next EP, ‘Vintage Jukebox’.
Despite the fact that I wanted to take a week’s break from reviews to embrace my business, I couldn’t help myself and just had to write something about this release. Anything! :) I knew it wouldn’t be possible to review the whole EP unfortunately, but instead, I picked one favourite track and decided I’d tell you a bit about it. I hope ‘Sunny Day’ will brighten your day a little! Are you ready for my 66th (wow!) review? :)
Good old swing and new musical discoveries
I’ve been a huge fan of old movies for many years now. I fell in love with them when I was a teenager (so a long, long time ago :)) and I love them to this day. They captivate me with their simplicity, the unmistakable character of the image recorded on the tapes, great humorous dialogues and excellent acting.
But what I like most about them is, of course, the brilliant music. When I heard ‘Sunny Day’, I thought Odd Chap had just taken samples from some old film. I’m pretty sure I hear the clatter of heels in there somewhere in the background, so it totally made me think of some old musical (okay, it’s probably just the distinctive beats of the drumsticks that give that impression).
I did some research and unfortunately couldn’t find any confirmation that the original piece by Ben Selvin and his orchestra, ‘A Sunny Lane in Spain’, was used in the soundtrack of some 1930s film. I found out that the aforementioned Ben Selvin is the author of several thousand (wow!) songs. He invited many great musicians to record his compositions, for example… Benny Goodman. Odd Chap, thank you for making me discover a whole lot of old swing recordings thanks to your Electro Swing track!
“Sunny Day” – an old-new Odd Chap song
This is very interesting, because Odd Chap published this song a year ago! Unfortunately, it was available on YouTube, and I usually use Spotify when I discover new songs, so I might have missed it. Fortunately, with the release of the truly excellent ‘Vintage Jukebox’ EP, I can catch up and tell you about ‘Sunny Day’.
As the title suggests, this composition contains a whole lot of sunshine. It expressly puts me in a holiday mood, motivates me to action and puts me in a positive frame of mind for the rest of the day. The instruments here go straight crazy – Odd Chap has made excellent use of samples, adding that distinctive old-school Ben Selvin violin sound (yes, that composer was actually a violinist!). And since the original title of the track is ‘A Sunny Lane in Spain’, there was also a Spanish-style melody to be found here, played on guitar of course. And those exquisite bass and percussion beats that make ‘Sunny Day’ swing us so brilliantly into an Electro Swing rhythm.
In conclusion, if ‘Sunny Day’ were a single, its B-side could be another track from the ‘Vintage Jukebox’ EP – ‘Jazz Three Oh Two’. Be sure to listen to all of these songs and you will surely come to similar conclusions!
And one more thing: Odd Chap, I know it’s still winter in New Zealand. Thank you for creating such a wonderful song despite the not-so-nice weather in your country, which makes it even more warming for us Europeans in this hot summer! :)
Written & reviewed by LadyDot (Ja, Wizeruk) Date: 2022-08-29
Bio – LadyDot
Anna (LadyDot) was born in ’94, but always felt she came from the Golden Twenties. “Polka” in Polish means “girl from Poland”, so she’s “Polka in polka dots”. She loves vintage style and spontaneous travels around Europe. But her greatest love (apart from her husband) is of course music, especially Electro Swing.
On her own Blog www.jawizeruk.pl she writes about various music genres. She is a copywriter, so writing is her strong point. Anna likes singing (not only in the shower!) and cooking (especially Italian and Hungarian cuisine).
Electro Swing Thing 
Electro Swing Thing 
Electro Swing Thing 
Electro Swing Thing
Electro Swing Thing