The latest single from Chickensalt delivers a southern soul-style rock that has a way of getting in your blood and your bones by giving off such a subtle but wonderfully lush intensity that you end up getting wrapped up in the entire soundscape of it all.
"Wanderlust" is a beautiful song that actually blends in that southern soul especially with the guitar and the vocal work because the whole thing just oozes a graceful and genuine performance.
It has this beautiful sort of light distortion in the beginning and the track starts swelling in intensity and getting bigger the deeper you go. I find that amazing because it's such a natural feeling.
The song grows and by the time you get halfway through it you just get engulfed in the whole thing and it feels amazing because it pulls you away from your surroundings and puts you in a different place altogether.
The vocals are also bountiful and rich so you're able to let that sink in and when you do, not only do you get a grasp of what the song is about but in a way, it feels almost like the song was written for you.
Memories of your own end up popping into your head while you listen to this track and I find that super connective.
So, you get not only elements of that Americana and southern rock vibe but you also get these elements of aesthetics as well, and at times it makes you think of bands like Pearl Jam for example.
Yes, there's an outstanding guitar solo in there that is perfectly loose but perfectly tight and fits the song well because even that is performed with soul but this is the type of band where every element complements the other.
Every instrument complements the other.
Because of that, you get a live band energy from this track, like the song was recorded live on the floor to an extent, and all the players are feeding off of each other the entire time so the song comes through feeling almost alive and breathing.
So, you come out of this song feeling almost like you did see them play it live.
Even if I'm wrong about the whole live on the floor aspect, I wouldn't know because I wasn't there, listening to this track makes you want to go see them live simply because if this kind of energy and soul is captured on record so well, then seeing them perform at live in the moment must be even more intense.
This track clearly comes from a band that has a real love for their craft and when I say that I don't just mean playing their instruments and singing, I mean writing songs together that have an impact and that you can feel in your bones.
There's something also quite cinematic about this track but I feel like it comes from those bits of emotional drive the song was likely born from.
The song starts with just the guitar and the vocal and that gets your attention to the lyrics and puts you in that moment as I mentioned earlier. But then the song gets bigger and bigger until it swells and sways into this big giant atmosphere. The intensity is massive, the sonic drive is big, and everything is right in your face.
Then, at the end, the song exhales back down to just guitar and vocals and this technique is brilliant because it lets the song give personal experience.
This was beautifully crafted and wonderfully performed, it had loads of character and personality, and the energy was absolutely electric.
Take a deep dive into this track when you can and I would strongly suggest listening to this with headphones on so you can really soak it in the way it was meant to.
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