Pretty Awkward don’t really strike me as a concept band – their new single “Misfits” isn’t weighed down with a lot of theatrical bells and whistles, nor does it feel like a small puzzle piece of a much grander story still in the process of being told by the time the track concludes.
URL: https://www.prettyawkwardband.com/
SMART URL: https://orcd.co/misfits
However, even with all of that being the case, I would be lying if I said “Misfits” didn’t sound like a piece of material dreamt up with the idea of presenting listeners with the band’s mission statement this August. If there’s one thing this group is committed to – and which is made more than clear on this occasion – it’s blurring the line between pop and rock as much as possible with their hybrid harmonies. They pummel us with supple beats and glowing melodic ribbonry in this song as though they have little to no interest in quaking the floorboards with volume, but beneath the surface level cosmetics we find a band in Pretty Awkward that is as devoted to the decadences of an old fashioned rock as they are the contemporary charms of a new era in modern pop music.
I like that the hook in this song is ultra-efficient while the melodies are essentially as far away from a conservative framework as you can get before drifting into experimental realms within alternative rock’s new wave revival movement. There’s a full-bodied feel to the bassline in the background, but it serves to merely warm the words rather than define their emotionality (which is something that, despite being common at one point in history, you aren’t likely to come by in the output of other bands this summer). I would have liked a little more volume on the keys here, if only to give us just a bit more of their textural presence, but I can understand why Pretty Awkward would want to avoid the very idea of being called overindulgent in this most recent studio recording. The bass parts are already as bold as they can be in acting as a cushion to the lyrics, and although it echoes as a whisper, the vocal in “Misfits” is hardly a shining example of pop minimalism.
Though I wasn’t very familiar withy who Pretty Awkward were before I got into their new single, I think theirs is a sound that everyone in Seattle and across the west coast should be keeping track of in the next few years. They’re not ready for the primetime yet, but the strength of their songwriting alone goes a long way towards justifying a debut album before 2020 is over. It’s been a hot summer for a lot of different indie units around the American underground, but even amongst the melting pot of talent they’re coming up against right now, Pretty Awkward have a couple of attributes standing out so much here that ignoring them is just about next to impossible. They’re on my radar, and if you’re a pop/rock buff, they need to be on yours, too.
Troy Johnston