A follow-up from the trio of songs we were introduced to in 2022, enter dancing melodies and punching vocals, as Egotist have released, ‘When I lie’, the next emotional confession from Manchester’s Alt-pop band who only started releasing music last year. ‘Last Man Standing on Lovers’ Lane’ was an outpouring of the fear that engulfs relationships, of losing your other half. A worry that in rumination can drive your partner away.
Most recently they released ‘God’ which is lyrically the closest to the surface of someone you be until you’re through Joe Prior’s skin. Tonally his vocals are similar to the early passion of Bastilles Dan Smith. There is a stand-out line less than a minute in, “I was a droplet of blood roll off your nose, it slipped through your lips and into your throat. I’m sat on your sofa and thinking too much, wishing that I was that trickle of blood.” Although hardcore, Joe Prior manages to make it sound romantic through his own hopeless outcry. The end of the song simmers over into auditory anguish, you can physically hear priors despair.
Having previously been tipping on the edge of gruesome overshare in the form of honesty with their single, ‘I Worry Too Much.’ Egotists truly lay themselves bare with themes of religion and heavy piano keys, ‘When I lie’ follows suit.
You’re immediately thrown into a soundscape of begging and haunting desperation added by the impending doom cast by the sound of infinite drum beating. The track feels like one massive gasp for air, there is a very claustrophobic atmosphere happening as tensions rise to the eerie backing vocals as soft as an angel paired with naked lyricism.
Each single from Egotist feels like they are painting a new picture of the mind, and you as the listener are immediately taken over to the dark side – succumbing to their striking personal narrative. “When I Lie is about the inevitability of the end” explains Prior, “Tracking back through small intimacies and unnoticeable details, It sways through the silence and rehashes those unspoken moments between two people.” There is something naturally dark about the Egotist’s music, almost to a deeper point of unnerving. You wouldn’t listen to it for a laugh, it has a very serious moving aura which they pride themselves on. They have not shied away from being different and in turn, standing out in a hometown stereotyped as fertile ground for breeding indie.