Nostalgia can be a risky, if not painful painful engagement, so often detrimental to one’s wellbeing and forward progress. Slonk Donkerson, however, use it to their advantage, reveling in pasts of glam-rock gleam to purport themes of emotionality and rejection. Their new single, “Casanova’s At It Again” is as polished as it is tragic, incorporating guitar riffs and falsetto backing vocals as tropes for desperate longing and pedestal-romances.
The track, which was inconceivably conceived, written and recorded in less than a day, for Speak Into My Good Eye’s 24 Hour Songwriting Challenge (a feat in and of itself), is like something out of an 80’s montage. But not a very hopeful one. Alluring and elaborate in tone and composition, Slonk cleverly utilize their more vintage guitar work, such as palm-muted arpeggios and pig squeals (!!!), to convey a downbeat side of romantic idealism. Frontman Dylan Vandehoeck wars with the urgency of the moment, iterating, “Do something quick, it’s now or never,’ immediately, almost comically negating it with, “Singing love songs right at the wrong time.” It’s like laughing in a crowd to get over something, sad for you, but fun for everyone else. And why not?
SIMGE will be hosting a showcase for 24 Hour Songwriting Challenge on November 3 at The Footlight in Ridgewood, which will feature Slonk Donkerson, Fruit & Flowers, Leland Sundries, and The Vaughns. They’re also releasing a compilation of the contest’s entries on Bandcamp, with all sales benefiting City of Angels, NJ. Pretty cool.
