With bouncy rhythms and shimmering synths, Alleyways turn generational malaise into a sort of art form.
The Leeds based five-piece have had some quality singles thus far (‘Romancer‘ is great) but this is even better. ‘Over It’ is fun, creative and infinitely replayable.
The abundance of five syllable rhymes leaves the lyric sheet feeling Matt Healeyesque, though it isn’t derivative. There’s some pretty clever lines in this. I particularly feel the “when we love it then we’ll say we ‘stan a Queen’ / Sometimes I’ll be feeling like I don’t know what means” since a) we also haven’t a fucking clue what that means and b) it’s something we seem to hear a lot, usually from some guy on Twitter telling us we’re sleeping on Kacey Musgraves. Which we aren’t, btw.
There’s a loose, jammed out, flowing quality to ‘Over It’. The tempo shift in the second verse and the deep bass grooves give the track serious bounce. Add to that some airy guitar funk and simple but very pretty synth melodies, ad you have one of the snappiest and most memorable tracks of the year thus far.
I’m a fan of the vocal processing too. The vocals achieve an elastic, digi quality through some slick modulation. Where auto-tune is often used to paper over cracks or smooth out rough takes, here the vocal modulation is used creatively to enhance the smooth, synthesised feel of the track. The vocals are the focal point, lying high in the mix, and prove the most enduring and interesting element of the song.
The tl:dr version of all this is that ‘Over It’ is brilliant. Go listen.
Follow Alleyways here.
