I've been easing myself back into music this side of the new year, and between the day job and life admin, I'm still very much craving that downtime from over the holidays. While I can't resist the pull of life's fast pace indefinitely, I can give myself a chilled out soundtrack to at least give the illusion of calm. Fittingly, the first bit of new music that I've decided to feature in 2023 is a soothing folk/pop single "I Will" from London's Bertie Newman. This artist has a couple of tracks up over a million streams on Spotify, so he's a verified talent on the up. Numbers aren't what really matter to me though, it all comes down to quality songwriting and Bertie has that in spades. I couldn't help but be drawn into those muted guitar notes and overall warm atmosphere at the outset of this recording. Once I was in, Bertie's voice just blew me away - it's so good! It's so smooth and accessible, but also has a tone that makes this voice recognizable rather than generic. This song explores that emotive and dynamic indie/pop meets singer/songwriter direction that is quickly becoming his calling card. "I Will" is another tasteful addition to Bertie Newman's ever-growing catalogue of late.