Surrey-based trio Bacchanal is back with their new single, "Cash In Hand," the first taste of their new seven-track EP, "DIY Lobotomy". As always, the band turns in a searing jumble of grunge grit, indie prowess, and unrepentant lyrical side-eye, upping the tempo and gleefully daring you to color outside the lines.
Longman, Jefferson, and Morris, three boys born and raised in Farnham who openly tolerate one another's anarchy, are no strangers to genre-bending experimentation. On "Cash In Hand," they attune their trademark sound to maximum visceral cross between raw punk energy and jarring harmonic ornaments that would sound just as perfectly in place in a sweaty Seattle dive bar circa '93 as it would on an out-of-control, rickety carousel. An anthem created with jittery guitars, nimble tempo changes, and an unshakable vocal delivery, "Cash In Hand" is more of a statement than a song. Moulded together with tips of the hat to Eric Cantona's repartee and an apparent dislike for anything remotely average, Bacchanal concoct a number that exudes frustration and flamboyance in equal measure. They sway between social commentary and abstract observation, their subject matter, ulcers, trees, clothes, dreams, why not? Shoving listeners out of the passive and into the now.
Bacchanal aren't so much a band that plays sound as they are a machine that weaponizes sound. One minute, a surprisingly melodic hook lulls you, the next, you're thrown headfirst into a rhythmic detour that screams to be heard live. Only in thematic audaciousness do the trio rank equally with their refusal to sit still musically. "Cash In Hand" does not so much spoon-feed its message as it throws it across the room and dares you to chase it.
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