Blooming with retro colours, but delivered with a hard indie-rock edge, Pressure Off is the latest satisfying single from WHARVES.
Since emerging from the New South Wales North coast a few years ago, WHARVES have risen to become a touring force. COVID has disrupted touring plans of late, but it’s been a fertile creative period. One of the results is their new indie-rock epic, Pressure Off.
There are familiarities at play (with generous lashings of naughties UK-inspired indietronica and psychedelic sojourns), but it’s packaged in a way that’s uniquely WHARVES: intensely satisfying and with an anthemic quality destined for a festival mainstage near you.
The freshly-minted single has already garnered a First Play debut on Triple J with Dave Woodhead and has been added to Spotify’s Rock On editorial playlist. When you dive into the track, it’s not hard to see why: it consistently hits all the pleasure zones.
The riff that forms the spine of the track hits hard before opening up into the verse’s casually delivered vocals, crunchy bassline, and gently filtered acoustic guitar and drum groove that provides Pressure Off with an infusion of disco swagger.
The track’s centrepiece chorus revolves around a hypnotic refrain: “You can take it off, take the pressure off” — you can only imagine a festival crowd heaving to this invitation.
Unexpectedly though, a reprieve comes in the form of a breakdown that takes its cues from Lonerism era Tame Impala, with flangers sweeping and a snare breathing the backbeat with an irresistibly rhythmic delay. But the finale snaps back to the rigidity of the opening: the blazing, euphoric riff and chorus are back to ride Pressure Off into the sunset.
Pressure Off is out now. Stream this absolute banger below:
