London quartet Speedial is back with one hell of a single that refuses to settle in one station or another, both in terms of sonics and the emotional gut punch of “Tourist,” a bittersweet ode to your average distracted city eventual tourist. Already known for their skill for combining shoegaze, noise rock, and unexpected baroque flourishes, the band further eschews convention with a cut that is both head-spinningly unpredictable and all-enveloping.
“Tourist” seizes the listener with its restless energy from the first note. The song accrues like a fever dream, piling on sinister but exact music that sounds both painstakingly constructed and on the brink of coming undone. The band is led by the dual vocalists Serena and Millie, whose instruments, weaving in and out of the resulting storm of sound and sometimes harmonizing, sometimes clashing, reflect the push and pull of movement and displacement that a title like this suggests.
The rhythm section is utterly unrelenting. Joe, the drummer, grinds out a performance so crazed that it brushes up against the feral, letting chunks of the track tumble into free fall but never allowing the thing to stop rolling. Then there’s the saxophonist Monarch, whose piercing blasts of skronk pierce through the haze, bringing a jittery intensity like that of experimental jazz pioneers.
The track is structured in an erratic way, similar to the experience of traveling, thrilling at times, confusing at times, but always leading to somewhere new. The combination of raw noise and elegance that Speedial excels at is fully realized here, making this one of their more vibrant releases. With “Tourist,” they reinforce their status as adventurers, taking risks to expand into the spaces they will occupy in years to come.
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