David Archuleta – Contigo en la Distancia Review

From Signposts Blog

The Spanish language, together with Italian and French, is categorized by linguists as a ‘Romance’ language with it’s origin in vernacular Latin – the spoken language of common folk in ancient Rome. However it has evolved through the millennia into it’s modern day version with it’s attendant qualities of love, romance and pageantry. I wish I was fluent in Spanish for I’m sure it would have enabled me to better describe the feelings and emotions that I felt upon listening to David Archuleta sing ‘Contigo En La Distancia’. The English language in this instance has a woefully inadequate repository of terms to describe the moment.Although I didn’t understand a single word, there was no denying the raw, yearning quality of the song that was so soulfully conveyed by David. I’ve racked my brain to come up with English words to adequately pay tribute to the performance but I’m failing miserably. The best way that I can do justice to it is to call it pure, pristine David Archuleta. Unprocessed. Unfiltered. Undiluted. There is no need to really. Backed by a simple acoustic guitar, the performance is vocal poetry in it’s most rapturous, magnificent form. Tastefully controlled, masterfully understated and yet so powerfully evocative, David laid bare the tender, heated passion of the song’s underlying message of love and romance so clearly, even if you didn’t understand the words. He was relaxed and fully in control in his delivery of the song’s emotions. It was an aural and visual display of stunning musicality…..it’s just….wow.

His stage persona is also another quality that has seen a remarkable transformation from the shy, awkward boy in American Idol to this towering, self assured and commanding performer as seen in ‘Contigo En La Distancia’. It’s really amazing to witness the 180 degree turn around from his usual off-stage rambly, spacey character into such a matured, confident performer once he hits the stage. The difference is almost jarring and it’s like watching two entirely different person. His ALMA performance really displays the central essence that is sorely missing in large parts of his pop album. The album has it’s moments for sure but taken in it’s entirety, it pales in comparison to this David that I see on the stage. This is the David that has yet to be fully captured by the producers and sound engineers in the recording studio.

Then again maybe they never will. For “how do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?”

Special young man indeed.

- John

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