Post-punk’s exploration of human psyche and emotionality has always been founded in dismal insights and wintry projections, but rarely, it seems, does it skirt on brighter sensibilities to create a deeper internal strife, a longing for happiness. “Arrival”, the first single from Providence trio Way Out‘s debut self-titled ep, finds a duality in all of its elements, a Jekyll and Hyde in every note. Frontman Derek knox’s voice oscillates between shrill howls and thundering bellows, and his guitar pangs in its loops, while effectively contrasting catchy, lush surf fills and intricately conceived melodic shifts to confound discernment between uplifting and downtrodden. Nick Sadler’s (Daughters) bass plays like it has some parasitic spiritual entity haunting it, effectively incorporating echo and chorus to help bask in dreariness. Anna Wingfield’s drumming acts as the manic pulse of a heart-attack victim, hurdling on as the driving force of the song’s effective horror. The result gets under your skin, and, combined with the fast-paced, hook-heavy chug of the rhythm section, the track is a whirling dance of a storm in the doldrums of an excitable heart, until its final seconds of crashing into nothingness.
