Love songs don’t have to be all sweetness and light; they don’t have to rhyme “moon” with “June,” and they certainly don’t have to be all balladic and saccharine. Just as well because ‘I Would Die,’ the new one from Dead Horse, is the antithesis of everything I have just described.
Although known for their sense of the absurd, the band wears their lyrical heart on their feral-punk sleeves here, and if the sentiment is straightforward, the music is anything but. Staccato salvos dance with jagged post-punk riffery; garage rock intensity is carried along by jerky-jerky angularity, and the whole thing feels like a sonic slap around the face., You know, but in a good way…a wake-up call, a shot of adrenaline, and an assault on complacency. All of which are very much needed in today’s music scene. It is odd and robotic, visceral and vibrant, blunt and bold, buoyant and brilliant!
And with the brevity of the lyrics, the song becomes instantly anthemic, simple and effective, a fist-in-the-air declaration of love, a foot-on-the-monitor surrender to the power of rock and roll.
It seems that few bands are doing anything new with the rock-and-roll format; even alternative rock is pretty much the new mainstream. But in Dead Horse we find hope for the future. Somewhere deep down in their raw and riotous sound, amongst their depth-charge bass and pummeling beats, their blends of blunt sonic trauma and fetid breathing space, a seed has been planted.
Watching it grow will be a most glorious pastime!
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