Self Torque and the massive alt rock / emotional punk leans of "Wicker Incident" (Official Visualizer)

"I’ve never seen her look like this before / I’ve never seen her look this way / Even I can tell that something’s wrong / On this hateful summers day / Make it go away..."

The massive alt rock / emotional punk leans of "Wicker Incident" by Brighton, UK indie-punk trio Self Torque, feels so artfully heavy and full of passion that it would feel as home at a tiny sweaty cinder blocked punk club as it would a huge festival like Glastonbury. And, suffice it to say, their sound, from the feral drumming, clamoring bass lines, gleefully atrocious guitar move [that runs the gamut of heavy metal power to lead drops that somehow (to me) have bits of both an Elliot Easton and Brian May, of rockabilly punk to glam inspired art rock] AND vocalist / guitarist Gabriel MacKenzie's vocal countenance that feels equally diverse and utterly inspired, IS the kind of passionate sound that is going places. Unquestionably original but maybe adjacent in sound and spirit to bands like Stiff Little Fingers, Descendents, Ramones, there is no fat on "Wicker Incident", just sinewy muscles and bones.

I love love love MacKenzie's vocal how but also totally appreciate the lyrical narrative too. The song is blisteringly brief (maybe another nod to the Ramones) but the storytelling runs deep. No chorus in sight, the track is a linear accounting of youthful pain and loss (as far as I can decipher) and how impactful family incidents can be to kids, leaving impressions, leaving scars that heal over but are still there with every decade you age. "Wicker Incident" is from the band's upcoming debut album "A Brutal Nadir". 

LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):

[‘Wicker Incident’ is the opening track of the full length - ‘A Brutal Nadir’ - and vocalist / guitarist Gabriel MacKenzie says it “in some way picks up where the last EP ‘No Rest For The Depressed’ left off. Short, fast, angry and poppy. Ramonesesque in its relentless chuggery, with a suggestion of Californian surf. Lyrically it sets the tone for the record. One of self reflection. Looking back and inwards. It’s about how the understanding of childhood experiences can change with age. How other people remember a situation and how that can inform your own narrative.” The simple yet tantalising one-take, monochrome visualiser by Sam Luck only makes you want to see and hear more from the band.]

-Robb Donker Curtius  

LYRICS

I’ve never seen her look like this before
I’ve never seen her look this way
Even I can tell that something’s wrong
On this hateful summers day
Make it go away

I think my parents are in the garden
I try to steer her up that way
She’s far to strong for me
I fall and start to cry
I had no idea that she would die

I’m playing with the children from next door
My father looms into the room
I look into his blood shot eyes
He returns my gaze and he starts to weep
They put the dog to sleep

The neighbours children don’t know what to do
They’ve never seen a grown man cry
It’s all too much for them
They laugh and run outside
I had no idea that she would die

There’s little left of our memories
The next day the wheel feel off the car
There is no going back
Something here is wrong
Somehow I knew this all along




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and an added sonic treat:




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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7IhkQrmDEHcOt8QFMXcipr

https://www.instagram.com/selftorquemusic/?hl=en

https://linktr.ee/selftorque

https://selftorque.bandcamp.com/track/wicker-incident



Indie-punk Brighton trio Self Torque today release a further taster of their forthcoming debut album. 

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