Here are some hot new local tracks to finish melting the ice.
The Hopeless Romantics – “Quiet Kind” The third and final single from The Hopeless Romantics’ upcoming debut album, “Quiet Kind” is also a reworked version of a previous crowdpleaser. The song combines the bouncy pianos found in many a 2000s radio hit with ’60s pop harmonies and multiple key changes that make the song sound both wistful and heartwrenching, with the refrain, “It was all in my imagination,” haunting the song like a ghost.
SiNGe – “Dusk” Post-sludge band SiNGe have released their debut EP Sin, Waste & Decay, and with it has come quite a bit of buzz. A seeming fan-favorite is the slowburner “Dusk,” which opens with downtuned, brooding guitars before the song lurches into the verse like an old truck on a dark road. The chorus kicks open the door with a mix of bloodcurdling screams and melodic vocals, all over vicious walls of fuzz.
Future Stories – “Like Life” Future Stories have released their first album in three years, Like Life. The title track immediately showcases what the band is best at: urgent drumming, robust basslines, and guitars that alternate from crunching post-punk to reverb-soaked surf rock. All of this coalesces to create a feel of unease that is tempered by how catchy the song is. It’s a perfect way to kick off a great album.
Ben Carson — “Shimmer and Fall” Something that readily stands out on Ben Carson’s new track is how tight everything is. The drums are punchy, the guitars are funky, and the synths fit each measure like a glove. Carson proves that you can hit all the right notes while refusing to sacrifice personality. The chorus, kicked off by vocal harmonies and buoyed by additional percussion, will stick in the head of any listener for quite a while.
Pinklids — “Eye-Catching Silver” Pinklids have come back with a new song that exemplifies all the overlooked and underrated qualities of post-punk: angular riffs and basslines, frantic drums, and vocals that walk the line between robotic and all too human. Smashed in at various points are bursts of noise through which no light can shine. Clocking in at under two minutes, the song refuses to wait around for people to understand it. In order to do that, you’ll simply have to listen again. And again. And again.