Review
Genre and Mood
Curtis Harding‘s Need Your Love is soul with R&B polish and a funk bottom, three minutes of longing delivered at full energy. Ken Tucker of NPR’s Fresh Air called it a crisp bit of soul-shouting; PopMatters’ Chris Ingalls heard an urgent soul shout that recalls Wilson Pickett. Soulful, yes, but never slow.
Song Summary
The lyric is the oldest request in soul: the singer needs someone’s love. What makes the track memorable is how it is said. Tucker wrote that Harding nails down every syllable he articulates here, and that, working with his co-producers, he makes it sound easy to toss off an impeccable piece of Motown pop. On PopMatters, Adriane Pontecorvo called it an old-school jam in which synths anchor the retro-sounding song in the present.
Musical Breakdown
Opening
No source gives times, but Owen Maxwell of Northern Transmissions described the start: Harding screaming from the first moment, the bass purring and the synths humming, a track teeming with electric fury.
Chorus
Maxwell heard it boom on every chorus and stay tight and explosive, straight and to the point.
Bridge
The bridge is spoken. Maxwell called it the place where Harding plays with the band, and the moment where that tight, explosive feel comes through most.
Concepts in Focus
A bassline is the lowest melodic part of a song, and here it is the engine: purring for Maxwell, funky for PopMatters’ Steve Horowitz, it keeps the track moving while the voice shouts over it.
The synthesizer is what reviewers heard as the modern touch. Pontecorvo wrote that synths anchor the song in the present, and Ingalls noticed a bit of a retro keyboard buzz: an old soul form, with electronic colour.
The music video, directed by Elise Tyler, takes the song beyond one couple. William Nesbitt wrote on PopMatters that while the lyric suggests a romantic love for one woman, the video depicts a much more expansive view of love, and that its people look like real people rather than actors.
Artistic Context
Harding was born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1979, and his family settled in Atlanta when he was 14. His mother is a gospel singer, and he sang backing vocals for her until about the age of 15; later he toured as a backing singer for CeeLo Green and formed the band Night Sun with members of the Black Lips. Face Your Fear, his second album, came out on Anti- on 27 October 2017, recorded at Danger Mouse’s 30th Century Studio in New York with Danger Mouse and Sam Cohen as co-producers.
Impact and Reception
Need Your Love was released as a single from the album, and in January 2018 Harding performed it on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with the house band Stay Human. Tucker heard in Harding a deep knowledge of the past half-century of rhythm and blues. Play it loud enough to shout back.
