The return to a previously released track is sometimes an unnecessary act of an artist’s desire to stay relevant, but certainly neither when two members (one veteran, one current) of such an already powerful and in-demand outfit like Total Control have a second project, and decide to release the long version of a previously recorded song, along with a new EP. Rat Columns, the project of David West and Mikey Young, is putting out their new Fooling Around EP on July 31 on Blackest Ever Black. The A-side highlights the lengthier, “full” version of the title track, originally seen on their 2014 album, Leaf, while the B-side contains three new tracks.
The band shot a video for “Fooling Around,” incorporating images alternating, in varying styles, between shots of the band playing their instruments—either isolated in unusual locations (a bathtub, a park) or together in a basement practice space—and handheld footage of neighborhood travels and artful arrangements of wonder. Muffled bass and clean sounding guitar constitute the majority of the track, chugging along in an incessant diatribe that lasts the entire seven minutes of the track, while oozy synth slides down a slope of poppy retroaction and falsetto backup vocal “ah-woos” breakup the pummeling drone of guitar and bass in angelic tones. West’s hushed vocals create a calming reassurance throughout, until the chorus introduces synth highs and a more serious melodic shift, breaking the mood entirely, and leaving off a platform of a euphorically optimistic high and returning to the main rhythm-driven theme.
