By Oliver Shasha

A 2 year old single that has matured like the product of a Sicilian vineyard, Laughed the Boy’s ‘Bell Rock’ is a tour through a museum of coming of age heartbreaks and teenage angst. Comparable to the moody adolescent sounds of American Football and Turnover, ‘Bell Rock’ beautifully juxtaposes dry rhythmic grooves with lethargic guitar melodies. The end result being an emotionally charged venture that leaves the listener wallowing in their own self-reflection.

Kicking off with a deceitfully dry drum pattern that carefully draws you in, the beat is soon decorated with textured guitar licks; rife with emotion and attitude. The album artwork and lyrics are typically suggestive of an individual damaged by a previous relationship, and throughout give an abstract feeling of loneliness that the listener becomes quickly aware of.

The music and lyricism combine to project a compassionate expression of within. ‘Bell Rock’ alludes to the absurdity of relationships past and present, existing in a digital world where coming of age Netflix originals and the adolescent clichès of counter culture remedies and Breakfast Club rhetoric have all but trivialised the teenage experience of growing up. Throughout ‘Bell Rock’, the burgeoning grit of the lead guitar gives justification for a frankly corny lyrical subject, the occasional dissonance instilling a shade of anger into the song’s emotional profile. ‘Bell Rock’ is more than just a snowflake soap opera, but a visceral journey of self deprecation, dressed within the confines of real musical excellence.

Listen to ‘Bell Rock’ here: