ISAAC COLE

                                                              "Hypnotized" 

                                                               Independent Release

It seems strange to call Isaac Cole a seasoned veteran of the country music industry being that he’s only 21 years old. However, that’s exactly what he is.

He came into our homes 6 years ago through an appearance on American Idol that saw him reaching the showcase round, and with the release of his latest album, The Fifth, Cole now has 5 albums credited on his already impressive resume.

The Fifth has earned a tremendous amount of media praise for songs such as the ultra-catchy “This Ain’t That Song,” and the haunting bluegrass kissed melody of “Cain and Abel’s Cove.” He now returns with another strong showing from the album with his newest single, “Hypnotized.”

Always continuously developing his signature sound and striving to find the perfect wheelhouse for his vocals, “Hypnotized” delivers a catchy, 90’s country influenced style that leans on a memorable guitar lick to initially pull you into the song before it skillfully slides to the background and into a choppy rhythmic feel that then begins to act merely as accompaniment to allow Cole to push his vocal to the forefront.

He sings us through a lyric in the opening verse that touches on how a woman unexpectedly came into his life and changed everything about him (for the better); first talking about how he’s always been partial to being single, how he likes being wild and reckless with his friends, and how settling down isn’t his style, before flipping the script and confessing, “But that all changes when I see you.”

Playing off a line that comes at the end of the opening verse when he’s singing about the affect she’s having on him, “I don’t know why it’s like I can’t move,” he continues to be awestruck in the second verse of the song as he sings of not knowing how she broke through his shell, how she’s made him believe in love again, etc.

Cole cleverly utilizes the chorus to paint perfect visual pictures of several physical attributes about her such as having cherry red lips, long dark hair, and hazel eyes, but more importantly, he also reveals how hypnotized he is around her as he describes the feelings that she’s drawing out of him such as leaving him with his head spinning and his hands becoming sweaty.

Isaac Cole’s voice really can’t fit anything other than country, but that’s exactly what adds the necessary throwback flavor to this song. Though there are just enough modern tweaks to the overall sound of “Hypnotized” so that it never falls into the “out of touch” realm, it’s very refreshing to get a vibey tune that pulls away from the current pop side of country and could instead be strongly comparable to something that would’ve released during the 90’s era – which many will argue is the strongest era of the modern styles. 

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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