Upon receiving Scott Krokoff’s new song, “Cubicle,” to review, I didn’t really know what to expect. Then I read in his bio that he’s a “practicing attorney.” My first thought was, “Oh, my!” My second thought was more of a brainwave: “This is probably going to be hecka-ugly.”
With all due respect to Scott, the words “practicing attorney” and “great singer-songwriter” appear in the same sentence about as often as hell freezes over.
I guess hell just froze over because Scott Krokoff is a marvelous singer-songwriter. His latest song is called “Cubicle.” And it’s a pearl, beautifully arranged and structured atop plush vocal and harmonic waves reminiscent of both Tom Petty and Dan Fogelberg. Krokoff’s voice is vaguely similar to Tom Petty’s, full of deliciously chafing nasal tones, while his music is somewhat analogous to Dan Fogelberg’s “As The Raven Flies” – compact, slightly misty, and elegantly muscular.
Since I’d never heard of Krokoff before, I did a little excavating because he’s superbly talented. In 2007, he released A Better Life, followed by two separate volumes of Realizations and Declarations. Volume one dropped in 2012, while volume two dropped in 2015.
On top of all that, Krokoff plays guitar with what is called finger-picking technique, like Paul Simon and James Taylor. Finger-picking is way past guitar 101, entering the outer limits of difficulty. In other words, it takes beau coup talent.
Krokoff’s sound is what is called Americana, which is a style of music blending alt-pop, alt-folk, and rock-lite elements together. In my opinion, on “Cubicle,” Krokoff emphasizes alt-folk and rock-lite, along with retro flavors from the ‘60s and ‘70s.
“Cubicle” starts off with creamy guitars, followed by glistening accents, as well as a scrumptiously enticing lead guitar radiating a rueful wail full of aching desire, repentance, and sorrow. The rolling flow of the harmonics intensifies the suffusion of dream-like hues, as if the music itself is yearning for the unattainable.
Krokoff’s voice, with its tarnished tight tones, reflects haunting colors pregnant with mysterious susceptible timbres.
What I heard when I first listened to “Cubicle” was gorgeous stripped down Americana, full of understated ornamentation. This is an extraordinarily superb song.
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