Grounded in an early Arctic Monkeys guitar overload, and mixed with the deliberately shambolic production of ‘Up the Bracket’-era Libertines, there’s something very early/mid-2000s about the new track from Envy Motel. That is until you listen to the words.
Because for all of the spiky guitars and once-mainstream pounding indie basslines which wrap into the sound of ‘Trendsetter’, what separates it from the work it closely emulates is its modern setting.
Hoisting two fingers up to social media, and exploring the reality of living on and offline lives, ‘Trendsetter’’s strength is its personal account of living inside of a generation whose every action is recorded online and the pressure faced to keep up appearances.
If the Manic Street Preachers were just starting out and they were mixing the sound of angry guitars with a scream at modern-day living, it may well sound like this.
You can listen to the new track now on all major online streaming platforms.
