Friday, March 30, 2018

One Track Mind [feat. A$AP Rocky] (Single) - 30 Seconds To Mars

30 Seconds To Mars has been known to take their time with their albums; their last album, Love Lust Faith + Dreams, came out back in 2013 (see my review of it here). With Jared Leto's acting career picking up traction, it's no surprise that the band had to take their time in putting out new music. We've already seen two singles for their upcoming album, AMERICA; "Walk On Water" and "Dangerous Night". Both have already revealed the more pop direction of the group, with lots of more prominent electronic elements and hardly any of the alt-rock elements that the band started with.

"One Track Mind (feat. A$AP Rocky)", takes this direction and cements it as being the new direction for the album from the band. It utilizes electronic drums (with the ever persistent trap influence), synths, and echoing piano chords to build the majority of the instrumental, serving as a brooding background for Leto's vocals that feature a heavy amount of effects on them as well. This territory that the band hasn't really delved into much before, having hints of electronics on their music but not as the primary focus. The result, with this song in particular, is something that both feels very different for the group, yet still in line with what the band's sound and vibe has been. It has a theatrical feel to it (my girlfriend pointed out it would work very well for a Sci-Fi movie), which is something that the band has always gravitated towards (see their last album as an example of that). The song still contains elements that remind the listener of the band's past - there are live drumset elements that help amplify the electronic beats, Leto lets out a gritty yell around the 1:50 mark that immediately intensifies the moment, and there's a guitar solo after A$AP Rocky's verse that brings to mind the sound from the band's early days. All these elements are highlighted by their scarcity, briefly appearing to bring contrast to the synthetic elements while still managing to blend into the sound created.

The other element that makes the song unique from what the band has done before is the featured verse from A$AP Rocky. The band previously had featured Kanye West on a different version of "Hurricane" from their album This Is War, but that was a bonus track and not on the official release (so we'll say this is the first time). It was quite a surprise to see A$AP Rocky listed as a featured artist, especially since his music is very, very different from 30 Seconds To Mars. However, after hearing the song and listening to the other singles back to back, it became evident that this was a fitting choice for the new sound the band is trying. Rocky utilizes a mixture of rapping and singing, which fits the mood of the song well.

This new sound from the band has taken a bit of getting used to, but is also not too surprising. Their last album showed a lot of more pop influences, and so it makes logical sense for the band to explore the sounds even more. While I wasn't as big on the first two singles, the darkness and somber nature of "One Track Mind", mixed with the pop/EDM/trap elements, caught my attention far more than the others. It also helped paint the picture of the album itself a bit better and allow the other singles to make more sense. I think this single is really catchy and an intriguing exploration of new sounds for the group, and makes me more excited for what the rest of the album holds, which will be out in a week.

Rating: 4/5

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