Taken from the band’s recent ‘Abnormalities’ EP, ‘Gateway Drug’ is classic Spill Canvas. Lilting guitars, brooding lyrics and a killer melody that you just can’t kick out of your head. Vocalist Nick Thomas pulls at the heartstrings with the range of emotion conveyed through a mix of silky smoothness and gravelly aggression.
Along with the band’s trademarked moves (yes, a little carefully positioned swearing never hurt anyone), this track features a rather countrified picked-out riff interspersed within the standard radio-friendliness of this tune. Rather than lifting the song, it acts as a dark groove re-iterating the ominous themes in the lyrics.
The Spill Canvas know how to craft a song but they always find that bit extra to take it out of the realms they’ve already tried and tested. They’ll never be ones to break all the rules but the beauty of their songwriting and glimmers of originality within their music mean that this is a band who surely have an extensive and successful career ahead of them. Tunes like ‘Gateway Drug’ can be identified with and creep into your psyche slowly but surely until they are a part of you.
Winegums.
The Spill Canvas- “Gateway Drug”
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