Following the core of Calgary's burgeoning alternative rock scene, CDNQB returns with a poignant new single "Child." It's a charged emotional roller-coaster built around the bittersweet tension between innocence and experience, an honest blow you're unlikely to shake, so deeply personal and yet so broadly relatable. "Child" pulses, breathes, and aches. Though it's melancholy and heavy, it is filled with a guitar melody and has eerie energy with the fluttering tom buildup before the first melodic part, but it's also fun.
"Child" begins to sketch a picture of internal struggle. The instrumentation tacks toward a moody, ambient rock vibe, with slow-burning builds and strategic silences that force you to lean in closer. The arrangement is wistful backward looking while pushing its way forward which is the perfect mirror for the song's lyrics about openness, confusion, and the clarity that arrives, all too often painfully, upon growing up. What really takes this joint to the next level is CDNQB's vocals on the song. Grit in the delivery and control magnify the emotional undercurrent. You hear the voice of someone who isn't trying to be loud but can't help telling the truth. It's a quietly powerful presence that delivers the weight of every line without overselling it.
"Child" reads like a letter to a younger self or a plea to someone you're still trying to be. It's introspective, without feeling self-indulgent and vulnerable, without sacrificing its edge. It is a tricky balance, but CDNQB manages it with bracing candor. As the song ends, you're left with a lingering echo of a ruminative thought. With "Child," CDNQB again proves that alternative rock still has stories worth telling and emotions worth feeling. This is a mirror, and you might even find yourself in it.