CHRIS BANDI

                                                            "Carolina Blue" 

                                                            RECORDS Nashville

When the entire world was shut down, the music industry suffered in astronomical ways. However, amid all the confusion and uncertainty of that time, songwriters found innovative ways to still get together with each other and write the songs that we’re now getting to hear today.

That’s’ the case with Chris Bandi’s new release, “Carolina Blue.”

Co-written over Zoom by Bandi, Matt Willis and Jason Massey, the song leans on a float on the breeze melody to pull you into a lyric that sings of a short-lived fling, but where many songs of this subject matter are focused on a summer fling, Bandi instead takes us on a trip straight to the Carolina shore during spring break.

The looking back on it from today’s perspective gives the lyric a familiar feel as we’ve heard several songs with this type of bent to them over the past few years, but that doesn’t negate the fact that these lyrics perfectly paint the pictures that transport you to the location alongside Bandi’s memory.

The softness of the acoustic instrumentation as the song opens helps set the nostalgic mood as Bandi begins to describe the “spring break” girl as one who is driving a ragtop jeep with an OBX sticker, repping her university by wearing a Tarheels hoodie, and is in town from Chapel Hill with her girlfriends for spring break.

He quickly brings us to the focal point of the song, though, when he sings at the end of the opening verse of asking her if he could buy her a drink, and then moves the story forward quickly as one drink turned to two, which lead to them hanging out all week long.

When he punches home the chorus, he pulls you in hook, line, and sinker as he sings very vivid descriptions of their time together in their corner of paradise through lines such as:

“It was white sand, flip flops in your hand.”

“Sipping cheap margaritas in a hotel bar.”

“Kissing your lips and wishing on a star.”

But it’s the hook of the song that brings the past back into the here and now as he laments, “I still smile and think of you when I see Carolina blue” – very cleverly referring to either the ocean itself or the color synonymous with the UNC Tarheels.

Bandi’s vocals add a perfect vibe to the lyrics as he continues reminiscing from the here and now perspective throughout the remainder of the song, giving its overall feel one that signals that he’s fondly remembering a great moment from his past rather than holding on to regrets.

“Carolina Blue” gets a jumpstart on the summer tilted songs that will begin to start infiltrating country radio in the coming weeks by focusing on spring break. But more importantly, with Bandi already on a roll thanks to “Probably At A Bar” and “Would Have Loved Her,” “Carolina Blue” is the next solid step forward as he continues revealing his next chapter and things still to come.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)