UK band, Wesson, have a new single out, Understand, and we’ve been taking a listen here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today.
Understand is a 2 and a half minute burst of punky/rocky relentless power from Milton Keynes based Wesson. This is their debut single. The band are led by singer/songwriter Chris Wesson, with guitarists Callum and Jimmy, and drummer Dale. The band describe themselves as “spreading messages of living unapologetically and inspiring others to be honest with their life and not be frightened to be themselves.”. A great great message.
Understand starts as it means to go on. There’s no gentle introduction here, the band come in with full force with an Out In The Fields (Gary Moore and Phil Lynott) feeling style that leads very swiftly into Chris Wesson’s characterful vocals.
The vocals are clear in the track with some lovely effects on them. Lyrically it is easy to hear every word and some glorious harmonies back up the lead.
That all important second verse has some nice development with added instrumentation and some interesting drum stabs and then quickly we’re back into the chorus again. The chorus is catchy and instantly recognisable as the focal point of the song.
There are places throughout Understand that we are reminded of Billy Idol’s style of music and throughout the track we’re treated to some great dynamics. The rise and fall and sonic landscape of this track really keeps you on your toes and keeps you interested for every last moment. This is a really punchy and powerful song. Well written and well performed. For a debut single, this is impressive stuff.
Something that particularly impressed us about this track was the bass playing. It really drives the song along, is expertly played with some wonderful riffs and runs in it. It’s rare to hear a bass being played quite this well, and for us, we felt that the bass deserves a great deal more attention in the track. Our perspective on production, with this in mind, would be a wide boost across the bottom 4 octaves, especially focussed around 100-150Hz to give a great deal more punch and warmth to the overall track and balance out the bass. We’d also suggest a boost of the top 3 octaves, especially the top, to bring out some extra brightness in the track, give some more attention to the lovely bell ride driven drums in places and add some extra air into the vocals. A gentle compressor and make up gain to make the track more in line, volume-wise with more commercial releases will help the track stand out even more.
Wesson have produced an undeniably attention grabbing debut single. Understand is a powerful Indie Rock offering from a band who are clearly going to be making some pretty huge waves. We’ll be watching.