London's 88/89 have returned with their brand new single "Wide Open", which follows on from their debut single "The Man", with "Wide Open" being lifted from their forthcoming debut EP. The band formed as a duo with Jack (born in 88) and Michael (born in 89) when they met while trying to start again creatively, after Jack played some of his music to Micheal the band effectively started from there and has evolved since.
With well over 27,000 plays on Spotify with their debut single the bar has been set by the duo and it sounds like they're going to smash the standard and have created a track that you will instantly love! The band have found their way onto some high profile playlists such as Spotify's New Music Friday, Fresh Finds and The Other List (in the UK) with local radio in London such as Soho Radio and Hoxton Radio also giving them the love.
"Wide Open" has some warm and ambient guitar tones kicking off the track with some hushed vocals added in the background giving it the atmosphere that we absolutely adore in guitar tracks. Speaking on "Wide Open", the band recall "We were writing a lot of songs that were really busy sound-wise. The idea with this track was to pair a simple song with more traditional sounding instruments to create a sickly sweet sound. It sounds simple but we had to modify a bunch of guitars to get the sound we were looking for and devalue them a fair bit in the process. We really wanted to do a guitar solo as well; so much so that the original was about a minute and half long, which we fought for until the last moment. Once the words ‘Wide Open’ came into play it dictated the rest of the song. When you can drop all of those insecurities and fears and just love truly."
There is some dominant vocals that captivate you from the first word, with some high notes being hit that send a shiver down your spine. They're the sort of vocals that you'll warm to as they sound perfect for the track. That said, there's plenty of layers that helps give the cut some amazing textures, with some distorted guitars being added in the latter third to push the track even more and to give you more things to fall in love with, and yes it is one of those tracks you'll end up loving, especially when you re-play the track over and over again.
"Wide Open" sounds like Vampire Weekend indie-pop vibes mixed in with some 1980's guitar tones similar to that of The Cure and The Smiths, it's honestly a superb follow up to their debut single, and if this is what their debut EP may sound like then it could quite easily be one of the best debut EP's of 2020!
With well over 27,000 plays on Spotify with their debut single the bar has been set by the duo and it sounds like they're going to smash the standard and have created a track that you will instantly love! The band have found their way onto some high profile playlists such as Spotify's New Music Friday, Fresh Finds and The Other List (in the UK) with local radio in London such as Soho Radio and Hoxton Radio also giving them the love.
"Wide Open" has some warm and ambient guitar tones kicking off the track with some hushed vocals added in the background giving it the atmosphere that we absolutely adore in guitar tracks. Speaking on "Wide Open", the band recall "We were writing a lot of songs that were really busy sound-wise. The idea with this track was to pair a simple song with more traditional sounding instruments to create a sickly sweet sound. It sounds simple but we had to modify a bunch of guitars to get the sound we were looking for and devalue them a fair bit in the process. We really wanted to do a guitar solo as well; so much so that the original was about a minute and half long, which we fought for until the last moment. Once the words ‘Wide Open’ came into play it dictated the rest of the song. When you can drop all of those insecurities and fears and just love truly."
There is some dominant vocals that captivate you from the first word, with some high notes being hit that send a shiver down your spine. They're the sort of vocals that you'll warm to as they sound perfect for the track. That said, there's plenty of layers that helps give the cut some amazing textures, with some distorted guitars being added in the latter third to push the track even more and to give you more things to fall in love with, and yes it is one of those tracks you'll end up loving, especially when you re-play the track over and over again.
"Wide Open" sounds like Vampire Weekend indie-pop vibes mixed in with some 1980's guitar tones similar to that of The Cure and The Smiths, it's honestly a superb follow up to their debut single, and if this is what their debut EP may sound like then it could quite easily be one of the best debut EP's of 2020!