Following their excellent LP, last year’s You Were Overwhelmed, Massachusetts’s oldsoul have released a double-sided single via Counter Intuitive Records. High on Yourself / Safety Net pairs two beautiful tracks that provide a global vantage point on the band’s current sound, as well as glimpses of where they might be headed.
It shows oldsoul synthesizing the band’s nervy emo jangle and their active relish in the suffering of existence with neon, new-wave melodicism and the pluck and bite of catharsis seeking acoustic pop-punk. There are a lot of emotions being slung around on these two tracks, and you’re going to be hard-pressed not to feel some deep, excruciating feels while listening to them.
“High on Yourself” is the A-side and begins with a florescent synth pattern and a clatter of dusty, oil-drum tom-beats worthy of a Cyndi Lauper album cut, before erupting into a bouquet of massive powerpop melodicism that envelops your senses like the technicolor lights of a distant fireworks display.
“High on Yourself” extols the problems of living with or dating someone who doesn’t need your company so much as they need to spend some time alone to reassess their priorities, and hopefully, learn to stop taking the people in their lives for granted.
Lead vocalist Jess Hall belts out these behavioral prescriptions with an enchanting mix of lift and gravel, that lands like a harmonizing duet between Hayley Williams and Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan. As previously alluded, the B-side “Safety Net” is a dry and direct, but nonetheless endearing acoustic punk number, with a light scattering of country guitars to give a touch of warmth to its persuasion, but otherwise wouldn’t be out of place on a Fuel By Ramen comp circa 2003.
You can buy and stream oldsoul’s latest double-sided single below via Bandcamp:
Vinyl copies of the single can be found via Counter Intuitive Records here.
