Endure Everything
Endure Everything - Sherwood Park, AB, Canada, Alberta
So, I stumbled across this track completely by accident. From what I can tell, these guys are relatively unknown/new and only have a handful of listeners/followers on the socials etc... and in my humble opinion, the fact that more people haven't heard this song is verging on criminal.
After I'm done here I'll be checking out more of their songs, but for now, let's get to 'Buried Like a Tick'
So........ This song is one of those beautiful, rare moments where absolute simplicity meets artistic vision and integrity, and produces something truly brilliant. In it's most basic form, this song is a handful of simple guitar parts, a couple of equally simple drum beats and fills, and a fella with a decent voice banging out a couple of simple melodies, with a bit of a laid back/lazy style, with a handful of emotion thrown in, run it round once each and fuck off. Boom, a song, simple...... But what 'Endure Everything' have captured here is so much more than that.
Listening to this track, my brain is almost spilling over with random statements that mean so much in my head, but in truth probably don't adequately convey the very feeling that led to the creation of that statement in m head. Statements like 'Heavy, without being heavy', 'Full of feeling' or 'So simple it's imposable', so I'll try and be a little more specific.
'Buried Like a Tick' begins with a simple, clean, echo-y guitar riff that has just enough delay to build that 'open space' feel, expertly played, and with just enough finger scrape on the strings to give a little personality to the part, whilst what sounds like the drummer tapping his foot near the mic, gives us our tempo and the songs heartbeat. We play this game for a few bars until the vocals come in. Delicate, rich, somewhat sorrowful vocals, delivered in such a way to let me know that the human behind this voice has power we're not hearing yet.
The opening few lines of vocals act as our count in for the real drum part. The drums drop in, purposeful, direct, clean. Simple enough to leave space between the incoming bass and the already established guitar, and with just enough complexity and intent to let us know that this drummer, or whoever is writing these drum parts, has some more tricks up his sleeve, maybe saved for later. The band pick us up here, and we build..... The vocals hint at a little more emotion, and the drums and guitar respond in kind, as everything takes one step up in both complexity and feeling. What began as our intro, has seamlessly transitioned through a sneaky verse, in to what effectively serves as our pre-chorus which culminates in the delivery of the songs title 'Buried Like a Tick'
The vocals to this point, have moved with the structure of the song, being pushed out that little bit harder with each passing bar. There were a couple of moments along the way where the vocals hinted at being... ahem... out of tune a little, just a touch. On the first listen, it felt a little like maybe the vocalist just left in a little mistake, for whatever reason. But the more I listen, the more I feel like I recognize the intent behind each line, each note, each slight bend of the 'right' note in to the 'wrong' note, and how it all just sounds, and feels... right.
We arrive at the chorus.. make the most of it, because you're only getting one. In keeping with the simplistic, yet brilliant theme of this composition 'Buried Like a Tick' has a basic structure something like, Intro - verse - chorus - boys are out of here. Weirdly, it feels exactly right, and if feels like the confidence it took to leave it there, adds to the passion and the emotion of the delivery of the song as a whole.
The chorus drops in..... heavy without being heavy. The real type of heavy music I love, where we don't need machine gun double bass, or demonic vocals to convey feeling, power, or the power of feeling. The vocals are backed up by exactly the right harmonies, which let the main line explore some raspy, alternate inflections. The drums drive us along with every cymbal hit, each one feels as important as the next, played with feeling and a real weighty intent, without sounding like somebody trying to kill an instrument.
As with the song up until the chorus, the chorus itself builds with each bar, the almost whiny octave guitar parts rising and falling with the vocals, whilst the harmonies hold it all together. Then, basically, we're done. Songs over, go home. For me, this moment is exactly what I look for in music. The moment I know without any doubt, that I must hear this piece of music again. Maybe I'm a fool, and in reality the boys just couldn't be bothered to write any more song.... but for me it feels like definite intent, and most certainly the right call.
There are so many moments in this track that stand out when listening again. I believe the most important function of art is to convey feeling, or meaning, and this song does this in multiple ways, on multiple levels, both with beauty and aggression. There's a balance between anger and sadness that resonates with me in every second of this song, each constituent part and the delivery of each performance. As a musician myself, this song is one of those rare moments were I'm confronted with true, raw, undeniable talent. This song stands as evidence to the fact that music doesn't need to be complicated to be complex, doesn't need to be difficult to play, to have been difficult to create.
In conclusion, I love this song. From every beat of every drum, to every well placed raspy 'fuck' of the vocals, to the deep bass and every simple yet clever guitar part in between. Well done lads, this is class.