Continuing The Mic's summer streak of recommendations, our writers this week offer tracks from the likes of The Killers, Slipknot, and the 1975.
Boy – The Killers
The Killers are back, and boy, is it exciting. Written in between Imploding the Mirage and Pressure Machine, this synth-heavy, 80s-esque track adds a more electronic take on the small-town life themes that the band have enjoyed tackling, discouraging overthinking. It’s really quite impressive that they’ve been creating the raw Americana that fans loved so much on their last album, but tracks like boy that have a totally different feel still seem to tick all the right boxes with fans. It’s energetic, and offers a dynamic soundscape reminiscent of New Order, with a real sense of empathy and human spirit, which makes their music feel so special. It’s yet another classic anthemic single that would be welcome in a stadium, but it offers a different feel than you might necessarily expect from the band. This taste of what’s to come for the new album has certainly caught my attention, and I’m excited to see what direction they take. Isobel Morris
Higher place – Malevolence With their rise from the critically acclaimed Malicious Intent, Malevolence have released both a full and acoustic version of the beautifully powerful Ballard, Higher Place. The track is emotionally driven by focusing on death and bereavement, sounding like a heavenly light and soulful track. However, it packs a heavy punch when needed with the gravelly and deep vocals from Alex Taylor. It has the essence of the band Sleep Token with an eerie, atmospheric tone, as well as a slow tempo and delicate instrumentation. Around the halfway mark of the track, it dives into a killer classic rock and roll guitar solo that carries into the final chorus. With lyrics like “Ascend into a higher place, leaving my earthly form behind” as well as a music video that was released with the song, the track highlights the increased knife crime within the UK alongside revenge and loss. Alongside the release comes the acoustic version which feels even more sorrowful than the original. It still features all of the highlights of the full version, even with an acoustic guitar solo that delicately follows the same heavy vocals. The vocals are able to shine through much more strongly behind the lighter instrumentation and bring a feeling of crying out. Both versions of the track have been able to showcase the creative and emotional depth that Malevolence are able to bring with a perfect balance of heaviness and warmth. Kerenza Hudson
Yen - Slipknot
Slipknot have returned with a new single shortly after the release of the incendiary single The Dying Song with a song that is in a wholly different vein. Yen is a twisted ballad about someone willing to kill or die for their lover, from a sick and obsessive desire to be with them. The song is written in the vein of a slowed-down classic nu metal track, and sounds fairly similar to fellow nu-metallers Korn, albeit with heavier guitar work and more electronics and sampling. As the track progresses it gets musically heavier, but the vocals alternate between a dreamy, faded sound and the apoplectic Corey Taylor that we know and love, in a manner that belies a traditional Slipknot song and reminds me somewhat of the song Spiders from 2019’s We Are Not Your Kind. I have an intrinsic feeling this song will be underappreciated, so go have a listen and enjoy the subtly creepy atmosphere Slipknot have woven here. Jake Longhurst
Blonde – Maisie Peters Mirroring the pop-punk-influenced sounds of her previous single Cate’s Brother, Blonde is another track from Maisie Peters that blew up after she teased a snippet of it on her TikTok account. She has absolutely mastered this method of marketing, with all of her recent singles blowing up on the app and starting popular trends before she’s even released the full version. With TikTok users recording themselves bleaching their hair to the song’s chorus, she appears to know exactly how to create songs that will capture her Gen Z audience on the app, and whilst I will definitely not be getting the bleach out and ruining my brunette locks, I can definitely get on board with the sentiment and appreciate the song’s defiant and sassy energy - as Maisie said herself, being blonde is more than a hair colour, it’s an attitude that anyone can possess. Gemma Cockrell
Hover like a GODDESS – WILLOW
There are very few artists that keep grabbing my attention of who I’m not a loyal and over-the-top fan. WILLOW sure is one of them. Having released an impressive influx of singles in 2022, hover like a GODDESS comes as the fourth guest to join the three that are certainly a party (not a crowd) preceding it. This track begins strong: WILLOW’s vocals are controlled and have a powerful presence over the direction of the song, so we know that the upbeat, snare-heavy, pop-punk drum beat that sneaks up is with intention. It’s to remind us that this is what WILLOW does – she creates really good pop-punk. It’s fresh, snappy, unpredictable, genre-bending, and something that is critical to pop-punk: it makes us want to dance and cry simultaneously. I think I need to have a serious revaluation of what artists I’m a loyal and over-the-top fan of now because WILLOW is going nowhere. She won’t be slowing down anytime soon, only speeding up that contagious drum track that I’m totally in love with. Roxann Yus
The Drop – Sports Team
Sports Team’s latest single, the 4th in promotion of their upcoming album Gulp!, marks the biggest expansion of the band’s musical palette to date. The horn section that creates The Drop’s memorable melody is the first time that the band has experimented with brass, a clear sign that they have been emboldened to experiment after the roaring success of debut record Deep Down Happy. Despite all of this, the clear fingerprint of Sports Team’s prior works remains. Like on Deep Down Happy’s breakout hit Here’s The Thing, lead singer Alex Rice plays his lyrics off of the bassy vocals of songwriter Rob Knaggs. All the while, the familiar theme of discontent with modern life rears its head once more, with the specific target this time being the relentlessness of the working week. All of these elements point to a future of evolution, rather than revolution. Despite its changes, The Drop still retains the core features that raised Sports Team’s profile to one of the most exciting bands in indie and will doubtlessly still invoke the raucous reactions that have come to characterise the six-piece’s live shows. Ali Glen
Happiness – The 1975
The release of Happiness has proven to their fans and critics alike that The 1975 are still capable of producing songs that are faithful to the signature sound of the band. Although the band have ventured into many different genres across their past few albums, nothing has quite been so associated to The 1975 as the sound that put them on the map on their self-titled debut LP. After seemingly moving away from these in favour of testing the limits of their musical vocabulary, they have made a sharp turn back to what many consider their bread and butter. The guitars are infused with the 80s homages that made Girls an exceptionally catchy tune, and they playfully bounce off the funk-inspired bass to create an unstoppable earworm. Paired with slick pop production from Jack Antonoff, The 1975 take what they have learnt from their excursions into other genres, incorporating a scintillating saxophone solo, as well as chanted backing vocals, to really take the magic of the first album to a whole new level. This track has provided fans with an injection of newfound excitement for The 1975’s upcoming album Being Funny in a Foreign Language, a necessary revitalisation after the burnout-inducing marathon that was Notes on a Conditional Form. Happiness is a clear message from the Manchester outfit, to stick with them as they evolve into the next phase of their career. Ali Glen
Oden Owns You All - Amon Amarth
With the release of album 12, The Great Heathen Army, everyone’s favourite Viking metal band have come back with a vengeance. Revisiting their more death metal-oriented roots with an album that is by and large more simple than the previous few releases, this is a strong serving of music to play the next time you pillage a village. Oden Owns You All is certainly my favourite non-single on the LP, with a simple repeated riff that almost hypnotises the listener into headbanging, and with a particularly gruff lyrical delivery from frontman Johan Hegg the band are out for blood. The typical Viking imagery is retained, with a song that is written as a war cry. In mythology, Oden threw his spear above an opposing army and yelled “Oden owns you all” to claim their souls once they died, and this song is written as if written by a Viking to use in battle. Jake Longhurst
Beach House – Carly Rae Jepsen
Inspired by the trials and tribulations of internet dating and the men that are “probably gonna hurt your feelings,” Carly Rae Jepsen’s Beach House is a summer bop that possibly has come too late in the season to get the airtime that it would have otherwise warranted. The second preview of the upcoming album The Loneliest Time offers a very different experience than Western Wind, returning to the upbeat, camp grooves that have given her such a cult following. This track is not only hilarious but so unbelievably danceable. She uses the voices of faceless men boasting what they have to offer her, birthing the absolute iconic line “I’ve got a lake house in Canada, and I’m probably gonna harvest your organs”, which I still can’t quite get over. While the song doesn’t slap you in the face with stellar production or vocals in the way that some of her past hits like Run Away With Me or Cut to the Feeling have, there’s an incredibly endearing, perhaps more subtle whimsy with Beach House that makes it so enjoyable. It’s short, sweet and above all else, great fun. Carly knows what her audience is after and has once again delivered. Isobel Morris
Edited by: Roxann Yus
Featured image courtesy of The 1975 via Facebook.
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