Easily my favourite thing this week
with Peter Dysart
Freaking Out by Big Thing
I love bands that follow songwriting formulas just long enough to set hooks. But that’s where I start looking for the bubbles boiling in pot and the smell of deviated recipes that send wafts of wonderful sounds up to my ears. That’s exactly the experience I’m having with the new track from Big Thing.
I bookmarked the band last year, but confess I didn’t remember the tune that led me to do that. But now, with Freaking Out there’s no possible way to forget them.
Cardiff-based Big Thing perfectly encapsulate their music as “scuzzy, melodic songs about love, loss, and awkward nights out”. Bandmates Dan, Jen, Jonny and Matt appear to have captured a bit of magic in the process as well.
Citing such influences as Cocteau Twins, Wild Nothing, and War on Drugs, their music is a stylistic fusing of dreamy pop rock and gazey garage noises. On Freaking Out, it’s all strung together by strong instrumentation, vocals, and a wonderful drum mix up front. After the verse, a dreamy bridge rides a deft chord progression into a splendidly compact and shouty chorus. Just give it a listen. This is what turns average rock fare into an uplifting and genuinely satisfying event in under three manic minutes. Even the guitar solo near the end feels shot from a prow of a passing speedboat.
This is easily my favourite thing this week and maybe next as well. Freaking Out is now out on the Phwoar and Peace label as a download, though I’m hoping for vinyl. With any luck and maybe a few litres of discount wine, we’ll be hearing a full EP from them soon. They very well could be the next Big Thing. For now, Big Thing are my favourite thing this week.
