This single shows a diversion towards higher production, more intricate song writing and a focus on refining their genre and individual sound. When announcing Bristol Lane's release they shared, "This is by far the most effort we’ve ever put into a song and it’s one of our best received at gigs".
'Bristol Lane' is structurally more interesting than the previous two single releases we've seen from Bermuda. The instrumental 'changeup' at the end of the track keeps the song interesting, it doesn't feel out of place or simply 'thrown in' but keeps the pace of the song moving instead of dragging.
One place where this track unfortunately falls down is in the dynamics. With the heavy instrumental, I expect impactful dynamics to emphasise the instrumental drop into the heavier parts of the single but here that doesn't happen. The actual instrumental hits harder in parts but with no dynamic changes the sound falls flat and looses that oomph it should have. It's a shame because the written music has that power but it just hasn't translated too well in the recording.
Carrying on the dynamic short fall, the whole track sounds almost muted - like someones put a little too much compression on it. This muted sound doesn't seem to affect the vocals or the lead guitar but this is what makes the dampening effect that much more prevalent. To me, this is more of a production issue than a band issue but the lacking of dynamic differences in the sections that really need it, such as the solo and the big finale, ruin what should be these dramatic, hard hitting transitions.
The song overall sounds rather grande, again would sound bigger if it was less muted but I digress. There's some really nice layers that really fill out the sound. The backing vocals and harmonies are something we haven't got to see from Bermuda before and in this track you can hear the difference they make in their music, though subtle, it creates a fuller and more round sound.
I think that my favourite part of this song is the line, 'he died of a drug abusion'. Now, I did google this word before I stated here that it is, in fact, not a word. But technically it is and was used until the end of the 17th century. I'm pretty hung up on this, you'd think that the more universally used word 'addiction' could've been used since it sounds the same as their choice of 'abusion'. Maybe Bermuda just vibe with 17th century vocabulary, so take from that what you will, not sure where I'm going with this.
Still on the lyrics, they seem like a bit of an odd fit for quite a grande sounding song. The rich tones across the instruments and the (admittedly very quiet but still very nice) synth strings in the choruses, leave the lyrics to fall flat in comparison. The song sounds more mature for Bermuda yet the lyrics still have that angsty, teenage feel to them. I like this richer, fuller sound that they've bought to the table this time but the lyrical content hasn't developed at the same rate as the instrumental.
The instrumental really is where these guys shine. After seeing them live a couple of times before, I can safely say that they always knock it out the park during the instrumental parts of all their songs in fact. They consistently play with so much energy and passion, everyone who's listening has a great time and they've translated this into their recorded music well.
This track also gives us a little more bass than the previous two singles and we all love a bit more bass whenever we can get it. The drums are rock solid, super strong and the actual tone of the drums is really nice and adds to the grande-ness of 'Bristol Lane' as a whole.
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