Boone, North Carolina-based act RIOT SON pair surf-influenced guitar tones with garage-rock urgency and post-punk tension on “Another Chance,” the first single from an upcoming four-track EP. Created alongside German producer Magnet$u, known for his work with Ekkstacy, the track also experiments with contrasting vocal textures, combining clean microphone capture with deliberately rougher, lo-fi treatments to reinforce its themes of relationship uncertainty and emotional push-and-pull.
Blaring, escalating guitar tones and a chugging, post-punk bass feeling intertwine as “Another Chance” sets into motion. Twangy, surfy guitar tones meld with the sturdy rhythm section as vocals emerge. The “…another chance, no you gotta have your way” opening verses move with anthemic allure, while the ensuing sequence ventures back into the post-punk demeanor, with fittingly debonair vocal gloominess consuming alongside. The “yeah you do” vocal refrain thereafter exhilarates in its culminating raucousness, then shifting seamlessly into the heavier guitar blares and intensified vocals.
The final minute is particularly gripping in the responsive vocal layers, the “won’t be long” emotive croons interchanging with suave introspections. The production succeeds in its vocal texture experimentation overall, layering “the clarity of an AKG C214 condenser microphone with the rougher, lo-fi character of a vintage Shure mic.” It’s especially evident in that memorable concluding segment. Reminding fondly of a cross between The Libertines’ shaggy rock charm and the touches of post-punk from Fontaines D.C., “Another Chance” is a resonating success from RIOT SON.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
