March 17, 2023
I'm going to make you laugh again, involuntarily, but I have to explain to you the steps that precede the appearance of articles on IMC. I get tons of submissions.
And the best way to immerse me in the music is to listen to them one after the other, closing my eyes. I never know who will be the next artist to play after the song I'm listening to. Eyes closed, it's not easy to guess. And when I heard the first vocals of this song, I felt like a sort of euphoria came over me: "Oh great! Stephen is back!". Yes, on IMC, there are voices that we recognize in just two words. And we feel super happy like a coach of The Voice, we want to smash the buzzer and turn the chair around to discover all the details of the song and above all, its release date. Because when we can't wait to share little gems with you, we can't wait for them to come out. Phew. It was only 3 days away, yay, the world will be able to hear this wonder soon!
Alright, that was the BTS episode. Back to reality now. I don't know if it is still useful to introduce you to Stephen LaVine since he is seriously starting to become part of the furniture in the house. But what you have to remember is that he is one of the purest artists we have met in 22 years of musical promotion.
And like all of us, he thinks. Is he overthinking? Yes maybe. But like all of us too. And that's what gives birth to songs out of the ordinary. "Catalina" comes from his memories, from an old job, which made him discover a unique place that he could never forget, as he explained to us:
"It's largely reminiscent of a road trip I took a few years back where everything felt so euphoric. I had just landed a great new job and was traveling across the country. On my trip, I visited a place called “Catalina” off the coast of California and it was a time that will stick with me forever. In this song, I confront the problem that life can't always feel like it did in Catalina and the fact that there is still beauty to be found in the regular day-to-day moments that I have to show up for".
What's quite funny is that his songs are more or less related to each other. In the previous single "Brilliantly", he focused on showing the importance of living every moment and being content with what you have. In this one, you have to know how to accept the fact that the present will never always be as in our memories.
As always, we recognize the LaVine touch, unique, which consists in giving more and more emotions until reaching an epic climax. And there's a double LaVine touch to this track, since his brother Thomas wrote and sings the bridge. Perfectly mastered vocals, and much more assured than on the first tracks. An absolutely divine and creative melody. Sometimes, we wonder where he gets all that! But that is precisely the advantage of an overthinking mind. Always boiling! The LaVines and IMC can be summed up as a beautiful story of human encounters.
