Single Review: House of Cards

Back in October I reviewed Palmerston North outfit The Wake Up’s latest single, Worthy, which introduced new bassist Nathan Charles, and now here they are back with the seventh single of their career, and this time around they have a new guitarist in Trent Fairhurst. It sounds as if he has made an immediate impact as this is much heavier than their last one, and drummer Caleb Hickmott says, “it is the demon love child of Devilskin, Billie Eilish and Motley Crue”. My initial reaction was to think that this was just something to say to get people wondering what was going on, but the more I think about it the more I think he may just have hit the nail on the head.

This is commercial pop punk, with plenty of rock, but the keyboards take the edge off at times, while Laura McGaffin’s vocals contain a sense of naivety and honesty which really fits the overall sound. The guitars are often kept quite in the background, but Nathan lets the band get on with it for complete sections, only bringing in the bass on the chorus or at set points, which gives the song a quite distinctive feel. This leaves Laura out at the front, and it is only during the bridge and chorus that everyone is playing and providing that additional support. In many ways, this is a quite basic and repetitive song, but the arrangement is clever, drawing attention to different elements, while the change in pace 2/3 of the way through works really well. Allowing Laura to sing a line without any backing is also a nice touch, as it breaks the buzzsaw riffing and provides the dynamics which are required.

I can really imagine these guys going down a storm at the Ding Dong and I hope they make a trip up to Auckland soon, as I really would like to catch them at a gig. This is another really enjoyable single, and I look forward to their debut EP which will be available later this year.