I wanna hear you say that you'll be fine and you're doin' OK

Despite loving the pirate-esque "Sun Goes Down" (in which what might otherwise be thought of as a soul voice was matched to welcomingly strange but commercialized pop), I never bought British singer David Jordan's debut album. The clip of his new single, "(Don't Wanna) Hear You Say" Popjustice posted, though, has had me keeping an eye out for his new material.

It was worth the wait. "(Don't Wanna) Hear You Say" is far less distinctive in sound than David's aforementioned second single, but both the Bakerboys Original Mix and the Wideboys Stadium Radio Edit are fantastic. The original mix is slinkier, a side to side shuffle based on a simple percussion beat and prettily kept from sparseness with quickly ascending and descending synths and string-mimicking sounds, while the Wideboys mix dances up the song--which never felt like a full ballad--while still keeping it in radio-friendly territory, but in either version, the strong main melody is accompanied by equally strong production. David's got a voice I enjoy listening to, which means that "(Don't Wanna) Hear You Say" sounds even better than it might in the hands of artists with arguably similar sounds.

According to Popjustice, the single comes out October 26, though I wouldn't be surprised if that date changed again.

#57 David Jordan, "Sun Goes Down"

If you lost your senses, here, have mine

With "Sun Goes Down," David Jordan invented a new music genre: pirate pop. I know, I know, Latvia did pirates at Eurovision this year, but that was in a preexisting music genre. David's falsetto-filled debut single left me with no interest in him, but as soon as PopJustice posted a clip of "Sun Goes Down" near the beginning of the year, I was suddenly sold--this was music when creativity combines with pop brilliance, brilliance that is very much commercial-friendly. It's still such an exciting fun (and yes, catchy) record even today that I can't help hoping that, despite the odds, David gets a chance at a second album--we can use more people shaking up the music charts when the shaking takes on forms like this. Really, "Sun Goes Down" is just this: a great pop song.

Find it on: Set The Mood