Send Me Your Ears favourites 9 o’clock Nasty, have teamed up with another of our favourites; I Am The Unicorn Head, to produce their latest single, Existential Dread.
We’re always fans of artists who don’t take themselves too seriously, and somehow these two artists have found each other. We’ve described both artists previously as “unique”, “quirky” and singing songs about the most random of things (“ I wanna ride an evil elephant” to “I’m Bent”) and we’re so happy that these two insanely eccentric bands have joined forces.
In Existential Dread, these two artists have come together to form what we believe is a very promising collaboration. This is a track that feels dark and foreboding. A little more serious than some of the previous offerings, and it feels as though both bands may have truly hit on something just a touch more commercial here.
The thunderous kick drum in the intro sets the mood and we love how busy the drumming pattern is under the vocals when they come in. There’s a sense of urgency. We like the almost disco feeling that the hi-hat brings in places; drawing influences from all over the place to create a track which is a true stand out number.
The vocals have a very cool effect on them that makes the stand out well in the mix. The occasional layered vocals in the choruses are well considered and help bolster the lead and bring some extra interest in to the track. Of particular note is the vocal break down right at the end of the track, with lots of layers and swirling, driven effects, this was a great way to end a song that had already impressed us.
The running bassline adds to the sense of urgency and the repeated guitar riff helps you figure out where you are in this super-catchy-less-than-three-minutes song.
This is a beautifully created dark rock track. Creepy and full of ‘dread’ in all the right ways. Production-wise, a hi-pass filter set around 40Hz would remove some rumble in the sub bass area which we feel did not add to the track. A boost in the high mids and highs for some brightness around 8kHz and a top octave shelf boost for even more brightness and ‘air’.
There’s something truly magical about an artist collaboration that is a perfect fit. 9 o’clock Nasty and I Am The Unicorn Head have produced a unique punk-pop-garage-indie-genre defying masterpiece here, worthy of significant attention.