American noise pop duo Sleigh Bells are back with a new track called ‘ Bitter Rivals ‘. Sleigh Bells have their formula down-pat. Vocals that are run through a distorted megaphone, simple fuzzy guitar chords and marching band inspired drum beats are often a feature in any Sleigh Bells track. This offering is no different.
As much as there are countless similarities between this song and their Treats record, I would say that this track is a little more traditionally structured compared to what we have come to expect from Sleight Bells. Lead singer, Alexis Krauss, also changes up her vocal styling, embellishing her R&B approach with a slight hint of hip-hop coming through. It’s a close as you can get to rap without defining it as such.
The song is fun, but in my eyes all to similar to everything else they produce. Maybe that is why they are so successful, the fans like it so they just recreate it. I know for a noise pop group the room to move is pretty minimal here, however, you can only maintain relevance for so long without people getting bored of a simple formulaic sound.
I do have limited knowledge on the ‘noise-pop’ genre, so excuse my ignorance if this is “groundbreaking”.
WORDS BY Huw Nolan
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