The UK-based artist, Ruiz, is wrapping up the year with some valid, sorrowful questions we might consider asking ourselves: “Has our world changed so much? When did we lose the human touch?” His latest and last single for this year, “The Human Touch,” is a bittersweet companion that provokes thoughts and emotions and fills the atmosphere with its enlivening, rocking sound.
Ruiz is the alter ego of multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and producer Hugh Ruiz Robert, located in Sheffield, UK. The sensational musician uses his various talents to offer humane works that touch people and express reality. His eighth and latest single, “The Human Touch,” is an emotional plea for the human beings—who once were prevented from the actual physical human touch due to COVID-19—to reclaim the incorporeal touch that includes love, mercy, respect, caring, and generosity.
Right from the start, Ruiz’s poignant vocals harmonize with the instrumentation, showing us that if a vocal line can mesh seamlessly with human-made materials, then humans can surely interact and chime with one another. Along with the vocals’ impassioned performance and psychedelic undertone, the guitars, keys, and drums give it a solid start and present a genre-blended approach where retro rock flair, post-punk, new wave, and psychedelia create magnificent layers of delicately woven sonic canvas.
The overall atmosphere is energizing and thought-provoking. The variety of the vocal delivery, combined with the riffs’ fiery offering and the dynamism of the drumming, makes the single addictive and its message compelling. If various genres could get along flawlessly and burst with energy and passion like this, I believe that “The Human Touch” could ignite that sparkle too.
