Review
Genre and Mood
Tom Misch and De La Soul meet on It Runs Through Me, a song where jazz guitar, soul and hip-hop share one groove. The feelings come from the critics: euphoric, NME’s word for it; groovy, after The Skinny’s “groovy guitar riffs”; joyful, because the whole song is a celebration of what music does to the person who plays it.
Song Summary
It Runs Through Me is the sixth track of Geography, Misch’s debut album, and runs 4:21. NME called it a euphoric, riff-laden tribute to the power of music, and the lyric says as much: a woman tells the singer to add the bassline and everything will be alright, and the chorus insists that nobody can take away the way he hears the melody. SoulBounce heard it driven by Spanish guitar with Latin and hip-hop influences, a breezy mid-tempo groove; Atwood Magazine called it bossa nova-esque.
Musical Breakdown
Intro
The lyric printed with the official video starts with a count-in, “1, 2, 3, 4”, the sound of a band about to begin.
Verse 1
Misch sings about the music itself, the way it flows and grows, over the guitar that Ambrosia for Heads heard as a light, strummed harmony.
Chorus
The refrain turns on hearing: the melody, and waves that bring clarity as they run through him.
Bridge
De La Soul’s verse, delivered by Posdnuos, is the song’s long turn. SoulBounce noted that it flows beyond the standard 16 bars, and Ambrosia for Heads heard a calm and confident flow over Misch’s harmony.
Outro
The guest verse, in SoulBounce’s words, delivers a memorable finish; the printed lyric closes on the refrain.
Concepts in Focus
A <a href=“https://korczis.github.io/sonic-playground/concept/featured-artist/” class=“concept-link font-medium text-primary-700 underline decoration-dotted underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-solid dark:text-primary-400” data-concept=“featured-artist” title=“A guest performer credited on another artist’s track, usually as “feat.”: a rapper’s verse, a singer’s hook or a second voice. Features bring together different styles and audiences and are central to hip-hop, R&B and dance music.“>featured artist is a guest credited with “feat.”, and this one crosses generations: De La Soul were ’90s icons to NME, the heavyweight feature on a 22-year-old’s debut. Compare their appearance on Gorillaz, De La Soul – Feel Good Inc., where Trugoy rapped the verse.
A riff is a short, repeated figure that anchors a song. NME’s “riff-laden” and The Skinny’s “groovy guitar riffs” point to the same thing: the guitar is what anchors this song.
The music video, directed by Joshua Osborne, recreates a retro studio full of musicians, with a cameo from Posdnuos, who delivers his verse from an old wood-panel television. At 4:59 it runs longer than the album track.
Artistic Context
Misch was born in London in 1995, learned violin from the age of four and later the guitar, and released Beat Tape 1 and Beat Tape 2 on his own label, Beyond the Groove. Geography, which he produced himself, came out there on 6 April 2018; It Runs Through Me was its fourth single, released on 1 March.
Impact and Reception
Geography reached number 8 in the UK and number 2 on the US jazz albums chart, and Wikipedia lists the single as certified silver in the UK. The Skinny gave the album three stars but still named this song, with Water Baby, as a track to hear. Start it, and wait for the count-in.
