Cliff Haines, "Rock My Inspiration"

Instrumentals have the hardest job in this pool. No lyric to carry meaning, no vocal to hide behind. The arrangement has to do all the talking, and most instrumentals I hear run out of things to say by the second minute. "Rock My Inspiration" doesn't.

WHAT I HEARD

There's a massive feel to this track, and you can hear the guitar virtuoso in it, like Joe Satriani himself sat in on the session. What makes it work as a composition is the partnership between the guitar and the piano. Each one plays a key part, each one plays a separate part, and both hold their identity from the first bar to the last. That's the discipline most instrumentals lose by the second minute.

Put headphones on for this one. The stereo field runs deep and the track feels immersive in a way that rewards actually stopping to listen. It's a song that makes you pause what you're doing so you can enjoy the journey.

Full disclosure: I mastered this track for Cliff back in September, so I've spent more time inside it than most of this month's entries. That cut no ice in selection. Payment never influences these picks and neither does history; the song made the cut because it holds up against everything else that came in, and this month that bar was high.

WHERE IT LANDED

Featured, no playlist placement this cycle. It didn't fit any of the seven playlists, which says more about the playlists than the song. A feature is the right home for it.

Listen to "Rock My Inspiration" on Spotify [link: https://open.spotify.com/track/1cqBYh3fQJEVlSWPlbpHEi]

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