Washington DC band, Tired all the Time, have released their latest single, Regrets, today (October 7 2022). We were fortunate here at the Send Me Your Ears studio to get the chance for a pre-release listen.
Regrets is a dystopian feeling song of gloom, presented with a rather more upbeat 80s synth led instrumentation.
There are moments through the song where we were reminded of U2 (especially “With Or Without You”), as well as The Smiths, Joy Division, OMD and the Human League. This song feels like it has been lifted straight from the 80s whilst also feeling fresh and new and current.
We love the use of the synth in this track. There was something about early 80s tracks that made good use of synths, making the tracks feel robotic and almost futuristic feeling.
There’s some impressive rise and fall in this track that helps to maintain the listener’s interest, and we hit “replay” the moment it had ended. The choruses are particularly epic sounding.
We like the change up of effects on the vocals. Just the right amount of reverb is present throughout, but at times there’s a touch of drive on the voice whilst other times there’s a great echo on the voice. This echo was especially clever as at one point it coincides with the lyric “An overly determined echo of our human stain”. The use of layered vocals at this point help to fill out the soundscape as well and work well to draw our attention to the importance of the chorus.
The running 8s bass line adds some lovely low end thickness without being overcomplicated, it gels well with the drums and helps keep the song together nicely.
To us, the instrumentation and melody was almost secondary to the importance of the lyrics themselves. Clear in the mix and easy to ascertain every single word, they speak of fast paced consumerism and the loss of control mankind has unintentionally set in motion.
With regard to the production, the track is nicely balanced with a good representation of each frequency range. The vocals are clear throughout and we loved the way the synth appears in the mix. To our ears, the bass could use a slight dip on the G (98Hz) but it’s barely worth mentioning.
For fans of synth led 80s retro pop, Tired All The Time’s new single, Regrets, will tick all the right boxes. Sure to win them plenty more fans, Regrets is 80s vibes heaven!