First Listen: Soul man Curtis Harding captures Motown vibe on "Can't Hide It"

(September 22, 2021) Curtis Harding is an artist who has raised soul revivalism to an art form. His music captures the sound of late 1960s and early 1970s soul and funk, both instrumentally and vocally. Lyrically, his songs tell stories tell stories about people facing personal crisis or who are trying to exorcise their own demons. That was true of the tunes found on his very good 2017 album Face Your Fears and it’s also the case for “Can’t Hide It” Harding’s new single from his upcoming album If Words Were Flowers.

“Can’t Hide It” tells classic story of a man who moves between waging losing battle to contain the feelings he has for a woman or, when expressing those feelings, confronting the reality that she might not feel the same way. That story is propelled by classic sound that fuses soul, funk and psychedelic music. The tune contains jangling and distorted wah wah guitars, percussion that ranges from bongos, tambourines and some in the pocket drumming, and a real funky bass line.

All this tune needs is the kind of video that would take viewers back to the time when shows that “Soul” brought peak Blackness to the airwaves. Harding delivers that to, thanks to a trippy  and accurate video that features stars of film and television Anthony Mackie and Omar Dorsey as hosts of a fictional 1970s era music show called “The Velvet Touch.” Check out Curtis Harding’s song and video for “Can’t Hide It.” You can bet your last money, it’s a stone gas, honey.

By Howard Dukes

Curtis Harding - "Can't Hide It"