Koosje – Quiet Portrait (Single Review)

In the Netherlands’ artist newest single, Koosje offers a soft and rhythmic track produced alongside frequent Netherland collaborator João Erbetta including a feature from Brazilian artist Joana Queiroz. In a track clocking in at just around four minutes, Quiet Portrait offers a softly groovy, and funky instrumentation with fusions from Jazz and Latin rhythms.

With Joana Queiroz lending her clarinet expertise combined with the multi-instrumental talents of João Erbetta and Koosje, the song’s flow is easy, effortless, and fresh thanks to a dynamic performance by all three artists. With smooth clarinet solos flourishing just in the backdrop accompanied by a jazzy drum, piano, guitar, and funky bass line, there is a lot of subtle and effective movement throughout the track.

With Koosje lending her vocal talents solely throughout combined with her efforts on the guitar and co-production of the instrumental, her ability to showcase some Traditional Jazz vocals accompanied with solid vocals inflections, progressions, and high notes, Koosje Jazz standards performance is excellent. Lyrically, the song offers poetic ambiguity and alludes to a level of co-dependency with someone who occupies their thoughts and life to a fault of losing their sense of self. Short, sweet, and light, the structure of the song following verse/chorus/verse/chorus offers an effective flow of the track, never being overly repetitive.

In a track that is best categorized as a fusion of Jazz and Neo-Soul, Koosje offers a solid vocal performance that showcases her vocal talent without overshadowing the fluid feel of the track. In performance and track that is most similar to that of Sinéad Harnett, Koosje showcases her ear for vocals, sound, and lyricism effectively here.

Score/Excellent: Simple, fresh, smooth, and jazzy, Koosje offers an easy listen of a track with a lyricism that is poignant and ambiguous while giving enough context to elicit one’s own interpretation of the track. Effectively crisp and melodic, the instrumental works of both João Erbetta, Joana Queiroz, and Koosje truly make this track as excellent as it is due to a fresh interjection of life and passion in their performance paired with a fusion of genres/sounds from Latin to Traditional Jazz. While the simplistic nature of the track might make the on-repeat factor hinder a bit, the quality of the track’s mixing and execution is more than enough enjoyment for an overall excellent track.

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