Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio, we’ve been listening to the indie rock sounds of Arliston’s latest single, Hold My Wine.
Arliston are a London UK based band. Hold My Wine is the second track from their forthcoming EP, Even in the Shade.
Hold My Wine is a kind of middle class pun on the phrase, “hold my beer”. It certainly caught our attention and raised a smile or two. In Jack’s words; “‘Hold my Wine’ is about that occasional moment of recognition when you look up from the narrow corridor of your own thoughts and are seized by the idea that everyone else has progressed and developed, while you are stuck in an unchanged rut. The protagonist attempts to do something about it in the chorus – but inevitably, he gets it wrong”.
Hold My Wine starts gently on some beautiful picked guitar. Layered vocals join the mix and it feels like a whole choir has joined in. The vocals sit beautifully and clearly in the mix, with the lead vocalist very present and close. We were extremely impressed with the lead vocals in this track. This is a hugely impressive vocal range with some beautifully executed high notes.
That all important second verse maintained our interest by adding drums to the mix. These are in a really interesting pattern and the great use of heavy toms made it feel just a touch African in places. Almost like a score from the Lion King!
This is a dreamy and full soundscape with some fantastic rise and fall. It easily maintained our interest for several listens. At times, the chorus was positively euphoric and felt a little like something that could have been created by Toto. 80s synths and dreamy guitars fill your ears and sweep you along in a wave of nostalgia.
From a production perspective, a hi-pass filter in the bottom octave would remove some unnecessary rumble from the sub bass area. The bass felt a little heavy around 100Hz and the track as a whole could use a slight dip around 250Hz too to our ears. Some extra presence and brightness could be achieved with a small but wide boost across the high mids and highs centred around 8kHz with maybe even a small additional high shelf boost in the top octave. The mix is amazing, it was so clear to hear all the vocal lines coming from different places in the left-to-right spectrum.
Arliston was a new name to us, but from this spectacular offering, this is a band that we will most definitely be keeping our ears out for. An uplifting track with a real 80s vibe. We loved it!