REVIEW: Sarah Diamond and the Soul Miners — Doin’ Whatcha Doin’ (SINGLE)
Clearwater, Florida’s Sarah Diamond and the Soul Miners are a new band building a name. Everyone will know their name soon enough, however, if the singer and her bandmates continue churning out top-shelf modern country rock like “Doin’ Whatcha Doin’”. It’s heartening to hear a young singer such as Diamond run into the ever-lovin’ arms of such a time-tested style and she plays it straight; there’s no parody, no nudge and wink. This is a singer who’s done her homework and you hear it in each line.
URL: https://www.sarahdiamondmusic.com/
She has zero affectation. “Doin’ Whatcha Doin’” is far from poetry, it’s a sexy song about sizing a partner up for that physical step, and Diamond doesn’t dress it up as anything it isn’t. She doesn’t push it too hard either. Keen-eared listeners will hear her lean into the arrangement, meaning she’s tailoring her voice close to the music, and it results in an even more engaging performance. You can hear she is having a lot of fun with this.
It helps that the Soul Miners are a first -class band. The two guitarists, Dave Arazmo and JP Mooningham, supply practically superfluous backing vocals but their six-string prowess is one of the song’s best qualities. Drummer Jakob Dee and keyboardist Wes Eubanks round out the lineup and rarely do you hear a band so keyed into their singer. “Doin’ Whatcha Doin’” sounds like a team effort from beginning to end.
The songwriting doesn’t let them down. “Doin’ Whatcha Doin’” has the sort of construction that marks a select few songs for commercial promise and the chorus is the biggest reason why. Diamond and the Soul Miners bring everything to a head there as the tension of the verses explodes in a coy yet flirty refrain certain to play well both live and on the radio. The song has huge audience potential.
It isn’t a showpiece for soloing musicians, the song’s fundamentals are far too strong for that, but the Soul Miners put an excellent if short guitar solo to good use. It comes near the song’s end and buttresses the same melodic strengths clear since the song began, so even the strictest listener will forgive its inclusion. There’s nothing gratuitous about it.
It’s Diamond and the band’s second single. They debuted with the compelling, if intense, “I Got Away”, a story of love gone wrong and its fallout, so “Doin’ Whatcha Doin’” stands as much more light-hearted material than its predecessor. Everyone can get into this song because everyone has been there and Diamond’s talent for putting that over to listeners separates her from the pack.
Brimming with such confidence so early is another thing setting her apart. Diamond, to risk cliché, sounds as if she is born to do this and you don’t have to worry about her taking her ball and going home. She has all the attributes of what you might call a “lifer” and you hear it clearest in the ebullient joy filling her voice. It’s a sound we should become familiar with.
Colin Jordan
