Barely Holding On
Album Review
Sideways Love is a huge song, the perfect introduction to the Superbig sound and hopefully the start of something special. You listen to a lot of songs within the day and perhaps you become a little disconnected with the humanity behind it all, but then when you hear something that is absolutely, unquestionably performed with passion and emotional power, it hits hard. For me, this song has the feeling of being a long lost hit from a simpler time. The indie-rock energy of it is succeeded only by the sheer magnitude of the hook and the strength with which the lead singer and the accompanying voices deliver it. At almost five minutes long, you set yourself to get lost within this one, but everything happens so fast that it feels like a much shorter, yet somehow still bigger, experience. The immediate instrumentation introduces a sort of rock-ballad energy – not dissimilar to the likes of U2 or other bands and artists who crafted big soundscapes to accompany delicate feelings and ideas. You can hear the build-up before it even begins; the whole song pours out as this meeting of emotions, leading inevitably up towards a certain peak or conceptual explosion. The song’s melody is really strong, something about it manages to feel both joyful and melancholy – upbeat yet lacking something, wondering about something. The chord progression, this gathering of notes, the changing levels of passion within the performances – everything works hard towards this final arena of intensity and addictive melody. The music is immense by the final moments, the hook is familiar in an instant, and so when the energy reaches that peak you can barely contain your inclination to sing along. The production and recording style seems to encourage this, giving off a huge sense of togetherness or shared struggle, team work through difficult times. It’s a mighty song made all the more powerful by its delivery. Hopefully there’s a lot more to come.