North-West indie outfit Deacon Brody return with their brand new single You + Me. A tale of doomed lovers who through no lack of trying cannot make things work, this track harbours a deep longing for things to be different, and mask it behind uplifting riffs which lift their bitterness heavenwards.
Despite its less than bright subject matter, they still manage to project a real warm, almost summery feeling into this new tune. Their sound, reminiscent to an extent of early Maximo Park, lends itself to imagery of short, beer gardens, and music festivals, even as storms rage outside. Quite an apt oxymoron for the contrast of emotions this song paints.
The real driving force behind You + Me is the energy that Deacon Brody are able to inject into it from start to finish. There are very obvious pop punk influences gone into this track and true to that style this is a pretty unrelenting piece. The combination they have created, mixing unmistakable indie guitar music and infusing it was elements and the energy of pop punk works brilliantly, and its end result is a very fresh and memorable sound.
Again following in the fashion of this indie-pop-punk vibe they have adopted, they have pulled out the stops in creating a really big sounding chorus, which builds effortlessly to a melodic crescendo. “You and me, we used to be more than a family” bursts out over the building drums and riff, turning a statement full of angst and disillusionment into the anthemic centre point and most memorable line of the track.
The ebb and flow between the verses and the pre-mentioned chorus again succeeds in just keeping everything in check, and the down parts of it serve to remind you that despite making you want to get up and move, this is not supposed to be a happy story. It almost feels poetic how they are able to talk of heartache in such nonchalant way that you almost forget that is what they are talking about. In that sense, it is almost like Joy Division or The Smiths, in terms of the real disconnect between lyric and product.
All in all this track is exactly what I have described, a pick and mix of emotions and sounds which leads you on somewhat of an emotional rollercoaster. Its indie elements are strong enough alone for it to be considered a good track of that genre. But to label it as only that would be doing it a discredit, it is more complex than that. This is a very raw track, which has clearly had a lot of heart poured into it, and the end product is one which is layered with despondency yet optimism, reluctance yet energy, sadness yet defiance. Go and give it a listen.