Reed Mitchell Makes Strides with His Latest Release “Hold Me By the Shoulder”

Rising folk pop singer/songwriter Reed Mitchell has been interested in music for many years, though his life moved so much faster than he intended and he never even considered giving it a shot. His lifelong desire was halted because of his accelerated domesticity and adult responsibilities took the forefront. But right before the pandemic, Reed went through a divorce. The forced isolation required that he sit with himself and really examine who he is and what he wants. He emerged with a new sense of self and a renewed spark for music. He put himself first.

He is set to release his debut album, Hot & Cold, a collection of songs that embody a snapshot of a man rebuilding his life, much like Reed himself. His new single, “Hold Me By the Shoulder,” is his contemporary pop rock song that masterfully uses vocal layering. This is a tricky thing to do, as I’m sure many musicians out there can attest to. It’s easy to make a song sound busy and chaotic with this technique, but when done right, it can make a song transcend.

“The guitar is very simple and the bass carries the song,” reveals Reed. “The bassist (Michael Rinne) was phenomenal and very patient with me as we made lots of little adjustments. This is the one song on the album that I was probably the most nitpicky about as it was really important to me that it not sound too busy or chaotic. I'm really happy with how the bass turned out it really is a fun song. Adding the finishing touches of the keys and synth during the chorus was also a lot of fun, it really brought out that wild energy.”

“Hold Me By the Shoulder” is about new love, that feeling of never wanting to leave someone’s side, not wanting to get out of bed and a strong desire to just lay there with them. We get that lyrically with lyrics like “You’re my bolt of lighting darling/This fire you’ve ignited, it’s never burning out/With you I’m always white hot darling/You know that you’re the light that came and banished all my dark.” Musically, only the male vocals (Reed) sings the meat of the song while the female vocals sing the same 2 lines over and over. It’s a strong symbolic poetry on how this man feels grounded by this woman. They sing side by side and mesh melodically.

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