Brighton (UK) based Route 500 have just released their second single, Not Today, from their upcoming debut album. We’ve been taking a dreamy, chilled out listen to it here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today.
Not Today is a warm and dreamy 6/8 track with some very pleasant and unexpected chord changes. It feels almost psychedelic as if it were an homage to the likes of Pink Floyd (especially Roger Waters solo work) or perhaps Jeff Buckley.
Not Today sits at just over 5 minutes and to all intents and purposes, may be considered an album track for this reason. But to us, it just kept growing and by the time we reached the end of the song, we were all agreed that we needed to listen again.
Not Today is a slow burn. With layered vocals being used almost as an instrument and not so much a focal point, the song eases you along calmly. As more instruments are added, the song gains some intensity, but for the most part, you can truly feel yourself listening to this whilst lying in the pool in the sunshine!
Route 500 have an almost Fish (Marillion) like approach to the melody and lyrics of this track. We’d particularly reference the album, Marbles, by Fish, in that in places it almost feels as though the band have gone out of their way to break the rules of songwriting. Nothing wrong with that at all! And it is part of what makes this track so endearing. It is almost like a poem, or a piece of prose set to music with no discernible verse – chorus – verse – solo etc style. It is a truly unique track which we thoroughly enjoyed every second of.
From a production perspective, we’d suggest just a little boost around 100Hz for extra warmth and body. We’d also recommend a boost around 3-4kHz for some extra presence and definition, as well as a significant boost (as much as 15dB perhaps) of the top two octaves, especially the top octave. To our ears this will help bring out the shimmer in the cymbals and help bring the vocals to the front a little more.
We’re very excited to hear more from Route 500. This beautiful, retro-style, dreamy Floyd-esque style of music is right up our street and we wish them well with their forthcoming debut album