Song Review - RedHook - Sentimental Surgery
REVIEW BY: SARAH BONNET
SUPPORT FOR DEBUT EP 'BAD DECISIONS'
“‘Bad Decisions’ sees the group furthering their reputation as one of the country’s most compelling bands.”
Rolling Stone (AUS)
“Fucking epic. Can I swear? Oh well, just did.” – 5/5 stars
Bridget Hustwaite – triple j (AUS)
‘Bad Decisions’ added to Spotify playlists ‘All New Rock’, ‘The Rock List’, ‘Top of the Rock’, ‘Pop Punk’s Not Dead’, ‘New Noise’, ‘Fierce Femmes’, ‘New Music Friday’ (AU/NZ), 'Rock Idag’, ‘PopRox’, 'Most Wanted Rock', '100% Rock’ and ‘Rock Out.’ (Cover Artist)
‘Bad Decisions’ added to Apple Music playlists ‘New Music Daily’ (AU/NZ) ‘New in Rock’ and ‘The New Rock’
‘Bad Decisions’ added to Amazon Music playlists ‘Breakthrough Rock’ (Cover Artist) and ‘Fresh Rock’ (AU/USA/JPN/BRA)
‘Cure 4 Psycho’ premiered on triple j’s Good Nights
‘Bad Decisions’ premiered on triple j's Home & Hosed
Take your favourite feel-good pop song from the last summer before you turned emo (Katy Perry, Carlie Rae Jepsen… whatever song gave you that sweet serotonin boost at the time). Mix it with the emo song that changed everything and made you feel understood for the first time (whether it’s My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday...you name it). And you get the new RedHook song. Bonus point: it’s here just in time for the summer.
As their past releases have shown us, RedHook isn’t afraid to take a new direction every time they write a song. The EP they released earlier this year, ‘Bad Decisions’, was an eclectic mix of many different sounds somehow sounding perfect put together. Knowing that, I had no idea what to expect for “Sentimental Surgery”.
The song got my undivided attention from the first note. It opens with the main hook of the song: Emmy Mack singing “No I’m not okay I’m a fucking emo cliché” (a reference to My Chemical Romance surely?). Except that the melody is catchy and cheerful, accompanied by a “poppy” mix of guitar and electronic drums. Right out of the gate, the perfect contrast between emo/sad lyrics and music that makes you want to dance is achieved.
The song’s strong opening is followed by an upbeat instrumental part which combines many layers of synths, guitars, drums, vocal chops and more... At that point, I knew that “Sentimental Surgery” would be the type of song that you love from the first listen for its catchiness but that you have to listen to many times in order to hear all of the layers, making the song a bit better each time you hear it.
The verses are very similar to the chorus in terms of instrumentation, which helps sustain the happy-sounding vibe of the song. However, the intensity is dialed down a bit which nicely foregrounds the drums: a mix of sturdy pop punk drum tones and bright emo/trap electronic hi-hats. It’s showing us once again that RedHook has mastered the art of blending different genres together. The main hook then comes back as a hard hitting chorus, sounding similar to the intro but with a bit more layers and punchiness.
On the surface, the lyrics might sound cliché. But all clichés grow more or less from a grain of truth, and to me, it sounds like Emmy is vocalising what everyone is feeling at the moment. Without sugar coating any of the ideas, she sings about the “sad feels” we‘ve all been getting at some point during these last two years and the song is extremely relatable. But even better, it makes you want to dance at the same time. In short, this song is like a sunny day in lockdown: you know that the world is kind of falling apart but the sun gives you serotonin and you feel like despite everything, you’re still allowed to feel happy and have fun sometimes.
Lastly, I am very excited for the music video. On their socials, the band have been asking their fans and friends to send them videos of themselves in their best 2000’s emo outfits. RedHook shows have always felt like making friends and being part of a community and I think that the video won’t fail to show this aspect of the band (and the outfits should be a fun throwback!).
Make sure you pre-save the track which will drop tomorrow on the 24th of September by clicking on the image below. Trust us. You do not want to miss out on this absolute banger of a track.
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