This Friday, Coventry’s The Institutes release their new single ‘Something Beautiful’. Released via 42s Records, it’s the last release before the greatly anticipated debut album ‘Colosseums’ (released next week).
Images and artwork courtesy of 42s Records
This band’s spirit is unparalleled today. They can start songs where The La’s or Ride might climax at. It’s a sensory overload of love which, in 2021, after 11 years of this government dissecting society, is the unifying tonic we all should drink.
Reid Zappa Currie’s vocals and the hazy guitars soar high but, crucially, they’re never out of reach. As a band, they’re in that sweet spot, we are them and they are us. Their dreams are bigger and in action but, they are always beckoning us to join them!
Much like their previous single ‘I Just Can’t Keep Myself from Loving You’, it’s an outpouring of love they have no control over. Lyrically is where there this song’s superpower lies. Juxtaposed to the sonic, it’s a heart-bursting piece of joy. Even at its most overtly dark, when Currie sings “I’m down again but I wanna get up again”, the crashing drums and Cast inspired backing vocals will take your soul to a natural high. It feels more clarion call than a plea for help.
However, its ambiguity can take you to darker places. The line “I don’t think love belongs to you” is delivered with supreme majesty, blink, and you’ll miss connotations of powerlessness to addiction. Currie goes further with:
“This is like a jail sentence, in the jailhouse / caught up with the hangman and he let me down”
Despite the ethereal cadence, images of habitual reliance on drugs formulate and the song’s sense of hope becomes murkier.
Single after single, The Institutes have grown their escapist rock ‘n’ roll. Sonically they unfurl new pastures to explore and now, their lyrics are taking on interesting depths. As a result, next week’s debut album release can’t come soon enough.