GENRE | Surf Pop Sighs

LABEL | Gawk Records

RELEASE DATE | February 8, 2017

VERDICT | A Bad Day That Sounds Good

If you’ve ever wondered what a bad day sounds like, it would be Vundabar’s “Shuffle.” Like all of us whose workload blows into the good things like a new haircut, the song echoes the frustration we know all too well when reaching the breaking point.

The song, which comes off the band’s upcoming reissue of Gawk, begins with an amplified hard-edged melody that flows seamlessly into soft distant vocals. The thick, aggressive sound coupled with a light falsetto is reminiscent of the small voice in one’s head that reasons when things aren’t going too well. Although reflective and resentful, “Shuffle” doesn’t house the common, drudging, melancholic tonality that many who share this characteristic may have. Undoubtedly garage rock, Vundabar also describes this single as indie surf; the emphatic beats and overall loudness still manages to maintain a lightness.

So that’s where its power stems from. “Shuffle” draws you away from your lowest points and traps you in a sonic boom that expresses everything you feel. It’s like good scream or a cry that transforms into a laugh. This cleansing notion makes it quite comforting.

Why curl into a ball under a blanket in the dark to Bon Iver’s “Wolves (Act I and II)” facing away from your problems, when you can face them head on, swinging your arms and wagging your head with the wailing refrain, “I, I just want to hear my own voice”? Exactly. You won’t.