At first glance, Aiming At You, the new single from Charts and Graphs seems quite innocuous. Labelling itself as a post-punk mood piece that takes cues from many of Charts and Graphs main influences.
Whilst all that influence is there, and it makes for a solid foundation, it does feel as though they’re trying too hard to adhere to these inspirations.
With a multitude of little moments throughout the track that does catch some attention, and a solid base being worked off in the overall track, it doesn’t come together nearly as well as it should.
Getting into that basis of the track itself, we have a groovy bass guitar and a catchy rhythm guitar hook. Alongside this is a solid performance that’s in line with a Britpop style delivery where the singer keeps a general tone throughout, whilst also managing to sound just that little bit indifferent.
The unfortunate part is that that’s the meat and potatoes of the entire song, with nothing else really to add to it bar a basic drumbeat, and some brief moments of interjecting percussion in the form of a cowbell.
Once that guitar rhythm has started up, it’s going to be most of what you hear for the duration of the entire track. There’s nothing to break it up or give some attitude, it comes off as one-note and uninspired.
A solo, a bridge, or something else interjecting like a pronounced synth piece or even some extra flair on the bass would have all done wonders for the track as a whole.
The lyrics are a little bit more inspired, telling a story, but once again they’re just sort of there. They aren’t unpleasant to listen to, but they’re far from awe-inspiring as well. And with a decent-sized chunk of the song repeating the phrase, “Now whip it up, whip it up good yeah”, it just oozes the feeling that there are no ideas left on the board.
Charts and Graphs are taking a swing here, but it ends up being a huge miss in the end. The production, delivery, and composition are all there in spades.
It’s painful to rag on them this hard, but there does feel like a lack of ideas being brought to the board for this single, and there’s nothing here other than what feels like the skeleton of a superior song. It’s something that needs just a little more gas in the tank, and it’d take it from mediocre to monumental in a heartbeat.