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Egyptian Blue - ‘Salt’ (Single Review)

  • Written by  Johnno

It's amazing what our brain's chemical makeup can do to us and for us. The imbalance, the fluctuations, the abundance or lack thereof can determine how we feel and perceive the world and our environment.  There will always be conflict and there will always be tension - great motivators for creating art and music. Maynard James Keenan quipped that "somewhere along the way, I found it in myself a desire - a calling - to embrace friction, tension, transitions, changes and to work with them. Life is change. Life is friction". Our collective consciousness has endured too much friction and tension over the past two years. It's been unwavering, and it's been suffocating, and not the sex kind either. Fueled by the ongoing discord of our times, Brighton, UK's Egyptian Blue have channeled that energy into the post-punk sonic assaults they are known for. The sneak preview for an impending debut album in early 2022 is titled 'Salt'. In the food sciences, salt is known for helping food taste more like itself. As such, the Brighton quartet have all the ingredients leading up to this point - the tension, the drive, and subsequent energy to produce a track for the times, and the best of themselves. The boys added their own salt, their tension and evolution from previous releases, to stranglehold your eardrums in attempt to relate. In the first second, the clanging of open hi-hats introduce the conflict at hand. Then rippling, delayed guitars and a cocaine-assisted, drumming death march enters to reset your circadian rhythm. But to allow singer Andy Buss' expression of constant social anxieties, the backing guitars are reminiscent of The Strokes, as if Omar Rodríguez-López conducted a writing session.  The duo of guitars are in no need of distortion, because the higher pitched chords are attacked, staccato without sustain, by fingers consistently pressing and releasing milliseconds apart amplifying said tension. Egyptian Blue hammer out the lead single for their debut album with aggression emulsifying through a wincing microphone and strained amps. If there's any chance Andy might be Joe Strummer's lost and forgotten son, at least he would make the man proud. Fingers crossed for a promising future for these boys of Brighton.  9 / 10 Follow Johnno on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/johnno.johnno/

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