Written by Brandon George
Last week, Post-Trash premiered the highly anticipated new single from Maryland queer metal, post-emo, they/themcore virtuoso Spring Silver. K Nkanza has been producing consistently evocative entries in their discography in the last year and a half.
From her sprawling progressive rock epic, "The Natural World", to the grungy and vibrant "Plead Insanity", Nkanza has made themself a necessary songwriter to watch. This latest single is no exception.
The opening notes of guitar, comprised of stabbing tones, immediately instill in the listener a brilliantly formulated sense of tension. The song is then a journey between resolution and that tension.
Sonically, compositionally, and lyrically, the track is crafted in a way that makes it a gripping song, but also makes the listener keep coming back to sieve through its layered production and writing. Immediately following those opening notes is a thrash of messy guitars, driven and contained by Ovlov and Pet Fox drummer Theo Hartlett’s rhythmic guidance.
The verses play with these gnarled, hungry guitar tones, refusing to resolve their chord progressions in cliche while Nkanza spins a tale of obsession, loneliness, yearning, and sharp satirical self-deprecation. The isolated mix and voyeuristic lyrics build on that tension created by the song’s opening until the track lunges into its choruses.
The guitars, the drums, the vocals, the entire song is suddenly more layered, fuller, more explosive. They’re drenched in reverb.
Twisted, whimsical guitars slide and twirl in the background. It’s a testament to Nkanza’s writing and Nkanza and Ananth Batni’s production that the song can sonically change so vastly from verse to chorus and still maintain a complete consistency of feel and theme.
The song then leaps into the bridge, containing the ultimate in its proposal of irony as Nkanza chants, layered in shifted and distorted vocals, “If I can’t covet/w What have I? / And if I can’t exploit / What am I?” The wails distort and distend, the guitars rage, the drums thrash about in a moment of obscene bliss, and the song finally drives into its final chorus.
The form surrounds the entrancing bridge on both sides with its enthralling blend of gnashing, reverb-soaked catharsis. There's finally a return to those same hypnotizing, disorienting guitar tones from the opening.
“Set up a Camera” is undoubtedly one of the best tracks of the year so far, and builds up an already impressive discography. The song is available wherever music is streaming, and you can follow Spring Silver here, and check out their merch and the rest of the discography here. Let us know your thoughts on the track by tweeting us at @lgndsoftmrw!
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