Boston Manor - ‘Bad Machine’
Photo Credit - Niall Lea
Boston Manor unveil the dark second single from their forthcoming album.
Blackpool quintet Boston Manor have been gearing up to release their sophomore album ‘Welcome To The Neighbourhood’ and it’s a clear shift away from the band’s previous material. Turning to darker themes, the album inhabits an unapologetically bleak world where poverty is rife and drug addiction is thriving. It’s a sound of hopeless despair, as the fictional population of the album find themselves unable to escape a predicament they didn’t even know they were in.
This hopeless feeling is carefully embodied in the band’s latest single ‘Bad Machine’. A deep-seated melancholy can be felt immediately, as a lamenting vocal is accompanied by a strumming acoustic guitar. There’s something deeply raw about the yearnings “I just wanna be someone someone. I just wanna be something” that will strike a chord within you. As the chorus kicks in, there’s a sudden shift in dynamics and you’ll be blown away by the unexpected ferocity. Snarling guitars and pounding drums slam into you, sending a whole host of chills down your spine. Desperation is woven into the high vocal harmonies, before they retreat for the verse, leaving only a sleazy bass line. Piercing guitars and despairing bass lines ricochet off each other to create an emotionally charged bridge, and as Henry Cox begs “Get the hell out of my head”, the plea barely masks the savagery that’s threatening to rip through.
Returning to an acoustic arrangement after the bridge, it doesn’t stay placid for long before the intensity returns, only to carry on charging without a single hint of slowing down. Battering drums and wailing guitars are all combined into an unstoppable force as Cox’s screams become more unrestrained, as he slowly realises the invisible restraints that are placed on him. He grows increasingly perturbed with the seeming lack of control he has over his own life, and finishes with a final revelation “I’ll never say sorry. I’ll never be free”. ‘Bad Machine’ will leave you shaken with its unsettling revelation, and as you listen to it, the lines between our world and the bleak fictional world of the track will be blurred.
Words by Athena Kam
Go and catch this immense track live at the band’s live dates below.
21 September: Bristol, Thekla
22 September: London, Electric Ballroom
23 September: Birmingham, Mama Roux’s
24 September: Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
26 September: Liverpool, Hangar 34
27 September: Glasgow, SWG3
28 September: Leeds, Key Club
29 September: Manchester, Gorilla