Occasionally, a song infiltrates your headphones and inexplicably reflects a similar emotional muddle of your own, yet somehow makes you want to dance through it. The latest release from Jr. Atlas and Alpha Centauri does just that on their new single "Wasted/Lonely."
Bringing honesty to a catchy bounce, "Wasted/Lonely" works in the well-trodden furls of sad-boy rap and sweetens it with sunlight. On the opening beat, there is an appealing juxtaposition, soulful introspection coated in a summertime knocker. It's emo hip-hop that doesn't split the difference, it dwells in both. Jr. Atlas is carving out his world. Its verses ooze with an exasperation-sunlit, just-so quality of anyone left swimming through the dating pool of our digital times. The song's hook might be vast and singable, but the delivery is lonely, and the kinetic energy in the air makes it impossible to decline.
The song also reflects the bittersweet bonding most of us have with alcohol, a social handrail that soon enough, is the reason we attend all jealous and once the party breaks up. Jr. Atlas doesn't lecture. He just gets real. It's conscious rap, refined for the stage.
What sets "Wasted/Lonely" apart from its bedroom reflections is the full live band accompaniment. It also isn't dressed up for a playlist filler, as the production work from ALPHA CENTAURI gives this song such an elegant and powerful sound that you'd be hard pressed not to listen all of the way through.
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