Walk The Moon is back with another single for their forthcoming album, What If Nothing. While "One Foot" saw the band utilizing their pop chops (see my review here), "Headphones" goes in a completely different direction. Heavy usage of synths and flowing vocals are replaced with gritty guitar and bass lines, pounding drums, and lead singer Nicholas Petricca's utilization of both spoken word and yelling/almost screaming vocal sounds. The song feels very similar to Cake in the way that it opens, alternating moments of vocals and the guitar and bass, the latter of which has a bit of a 90's slapping tone to it. The song is quick to establish high energy; you can't help bobbing along to the infectious beat and instrumental. Petricca's low energy vocals during the verses help provide nice contrast to the shift in the chorus, where he pushes higher and raw vocals, unlike the pretty falsetto found in "One Foot". This track really shows his ability to shift vocally with little delay, and his gritty side that hasn't come out on many of their songs before.
The song also highlights the instrumental talents of the rest of the members of the band. Kevin Ray shows us the bass is not just a backing instrument, providing groove and a pulse to the track. Eli Maiman is given the chance to show off his skills on the guitar throughout the song and especially near the end of the song with the solo that's ferocious in the speed and precision of the finger work. Sean Waugaman sits right at the center of the song, providing the drumwork to keep the intensity and energy of the song right where it needs to be throughout the wild 3:07 ride the song is. There are certain moments where all these instruments come together to create some moments that blow you away. Starting at the 2 minute mark, the guitar solo begins, and the song just continues to build and build until the breakdown that pushes all the way through the end. I think my jaw was hanging low by the time I reached the end of the track, I was absolutely thrilled with what the band decided to show us.
While I was impressed with "One Foot", "Headphones" is in a completely different playing field. The utilization of 80's and 90's influence is just enough to not overwhelm, the leaning towards a more raw, unprocessed sound as opposed to the shine of a pop-friendly track, shows that the band has so much more to offer than we've seen yet. The song released on Friday, and as of today (Monday), I've already listened to the song over 20 times. I'm having a hard time imagining that they're going to release something that'll impress me more than this song, but I would be glad to be proven wrong. I am even more excited to hear the rest of the album come next month, and beyond ecstatic to see them live in February. This will be one of my top songs this year, that's for sure.
Rating: 5/5
Related: "The Distance" - Cake, "Never Swim Alone" - Death from Above 1979, "Lights Out" - Royal Blood
Note: Most of the related songs I chose are more rock based than pop based. I did this because I couldn't find any groups in the alternative-pop scene that had anything even remotely similar to this track. It's unique, and hard to compare to anything else I've heard.
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