Hey timid program directors of radio and music television, here’s a perfect fit between the endless plays of Kings of Leon and The Strokes tunes. Bryan Elijah Smith has the same knack for hook-laden, energizing, populist wooing pop-rock as these established brands, and frankly this one is catchier than a lot of their songs. DI’s love of Smith is well established – check out our recent questionnaire where Smith gets philosophical and we gush about his latest album, Turn It Up, from whence “Run Around” comes – but we’re increasingly impressed with the kid’s video wrangling skills. This is fun to watch and builds on the music in a nice way. The scenes of a scruffy Bryan lustily mangling his guitar remind us of those filthy Calvin Klein ads in the 90s that got pulled – not a bad thing, just an observation to point out that Smith is cute in a way that could go Twitter mad, which seems to be something PR stooges and label folks notice more than music now. So, with this artist you get both Teen Beat potential and a tune you can dig. What’s not to like?
By the way, Smith can handle a Kings of Leon tune pretty darn well, too.
