Tag: Repenter

Repenter’s New Single “Skeletons” is the Perfect Balance of Edgy Melodies and Grace

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Repenter, image courtesy the artists

Repenter’s latest single “Skeletons” melds soulful, smoky vocals with grittily fuzzy guitar that soars like the musical equivalent of a cutting torch. And yet amidst that balance there are melancholic melodies and a dynamic structure that separates the song immediately from other bands who are using heavy distortion in their soundscape and basically aping some 90s alt-rock style. “Skeletons” is more like the logical progression out of 80s hard rock and New Wave. Taking the refined edge of the one and the well-crafted melodrama of the other to make the kind of song that isn’t beholden to either. The cover art, either a Frank Frazetta print or one made to imitate that style is the embodiment of how this band’s music works together—brute sonic force and melodic grace and fluidity. The art may make you expect to hear something like Molly Hatchet or Basil Poledouris but Repenter has mastered giving heavy rock some emotional nuance. Listen to “Skeletons” on Soundcloud or with the visualizations on YouTube.

Repenter Send Up the Dubious Achievements of Influencer Culture on Sardonic Rock and Roll Song “So Sick”

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Repenter, image courtesy the artists

Nevermind the Frank Frazetta-esque artwork, Repenter’s “So Sick” isn’t a metal or industrial song. It’s a headlong, sardonic send-up of influencer culture and the way some people in pursuing trends or trying to stay ahead of them all but become a human meme. The opening line, “Make a face at your phone like you’re Zoolander” sets the tone but the lyrics seem to be coming from a place that isn’t just cutting and sarcastic but from the perspective from someone who is wondering why anyone would make themselves so overtly a product to be marketed and consumed when most of us already give too much of our lives to social media companies to monetize and sell off to other corporations in order to provide data for market research. It would be too obvious to mock people who do the thing they’re being encouraged, conditioned and reinforced in doing with dubious rewards the things people imagine they must to become the mythical celebrity influencer that many aspire to be. “I just want you to know I ain’t mad at ya, but I ain’t a fan of ya/You’re just so sick with yourself, you don’t need my help,” the song’s chorus makes the perspective more explicit. Holly Winter’s vocals, with a cadence reminiscent of Karen O and the introspective but tough-edged tonality of Martha Davis, paired with a short, sharp, gritty rock and roll song conveys an outsider’s critique of what seems like an inherently toxic cultural anomaly. Listen to “So Sick” at the Soundcloud link below.