Single Review: Never Coming Back

Never Coming Back is the second single release from Auckland alternative rock band, Underscore. The relatively new band in town consists of; Jonathan Meyer – guitars/vocals, Hon Manawangphiphat – bass and Josh Johnston – drums. The trio started playing music together as students at Auckland University.

Described by the band as bitter breakup song, Never Coming Back growls into life with a classic blues riff, not too dissimilar to something out of The Black Keys’ locker. It’s got a heap of swing, guitars sound great, drums are nice and heavy with loads of symbol and I can already tell that this is a step up in production from their debut release Dirty Word.

The verses work well with a lot of space, single chords and drop outs. Jonathan has brought the right attitude to the vocals, it’s more determination and conviction rather than anger. Then just when I thought the song would stay in its comfy blues barn, it changes. Probably my favourite part of the track is this rolling, rumbling toms pre chorus build. For the protagonist, there’s this bitter internal realisation and the vocal melody here is excellent. It reminds me a lot of Midnight Youth and that is a very good thing!

The classic, slow time blues bridge is perfect. It’s so nice when a guitar solo suits the song and it’s not just a shredfest for the sake of it. Here it’s more soul and sorrow, a nod to the great blues players like BB King, but with a screwdriver jammed through into the Marshall. Nice fuzz and tone! Then the band cranks it up a gear out of the bridge into a double time section with a play on the main riff, before a coming to a grinding halt to finish where it all began, a great swinging blues breakup song. Nice work, I look forward to hearing the next instalment from Underscore!