Angus1 is “Open For Business”

The title track for Angus1's forthcoming, debut EP plays like a shell-game scam: follow the ball while keeping from losing your mind. Immediately, everything sounds out of balance, yet, somehow, it's easy to keep track of. From the broken-speaker snare to the rubbery, yet razor-wire bass, its sonic demands are initially child’s play. The first challenge is to politely ignore the cacophony: Angus1’s gentle vocal makes you press the headphones closer to your ears so you can listen; “Roughly half the time / Openly fantasise I’m somebody else.”

Speaking about "Open For Business", he explains that the track “ was a release valve for a lot of pent-up frustration, dissatisfaction, and regret. I felt like the moment had passed and I'd missed the boat in life in so many ways. The feeling applied to how I'd approached romantic relationships, music, work, study, friendships, money, where I lived…almost everything.”

The attempts to corner these facets play out in the livewire dynamics. As such, while begging for sympathy and clarity, the song also exercises your ears. Barely 30 seconds in, a bass melody arrives that feels strangely tense: like the strings being pressed so firmly between the frets that the notes bend slightly as if New Order had never found the dancefloor. The drums and distortion persist, but the initial wildness begins to fall into a pattern.

Angus1 continues, “The sentiment was like, 'take me back to when I was 17, 21, 25, etc., and let me try doing things differently. Imagine if I could do it all again knowing what I know now'. The song exposes a very real, and very unhelpful, resistance to accepting things as they’ve panned out.”

Delving into soundscapes and anthem territory, Angus1's vocals are shredded into digital confetti, and the gradual marriage of disparate tones puts everything on the table. It's a recontextualisation of his music to date; an exciting turn.