South Shields’ Patrick Gosling has had a creatively energetic lockdown and is back with ‘Meantime’, a track lyrically examining intimacy, ecological collapse and the stasis which can come with both.
Appropriately enough for a song that delves into the intervals and suspension between epochal moments both personal and planetary, it declines to settle into a comfortably defined musical template; packing a rocking drive, its most combustible moments are all electronic.
Opening with wide-eyed synthetic blasts, ‘Meantime’ deals in blink-and-you’ll-miss-‘em verses and cut-to-the-chase choruses, a spare lyricism all the more effective for both its sparseness and playfulness (“I’m wearing shorts in February, man, that ain’t right”).
That first chorus is almost a faux-hook, giving way to a ferocious, climbing wall of sound which is the song’s real thrill – this makes for structural excitement and repeat listens.
Just as in life, you wait; to see if that wordless bridge returns and it does as a denouement, but now obscured in the mix.
You can listen to ‘Meantime’ now on all major online streaming platforms.
