If there were an anti-procrastination movement, “Decide” could very well be its anthem. (I’m sure there is a joke about people still mulling over the idea of such a body, but I’m not going to go there.) For “Decide,” the latest one from Southbank, is the antidote to indecision and uncertainty, a reminder that life is for living, so we should get on and live it, although that is, like most sweeping generalizations, easier said than done.
And if such sentiments are a good idea, they also make for a great song. Centered on Jeff Neely, who has been making music under the moniker since 2022, there is a touch of Wilco’s adventurousness about it, perhaps a bit of R.E.M’s early indie-quirk, and maybe some of The Rainmakers alt-country sonic textures and rootsy drive—all great ingredients but its definitly a song so much more than the sum of those parts.
There is a spaciousness to it, revealing the guitars to be interwoven arrays of shards and shapes; it allows the piano to chime through the gaps, and the drums are elegantly unfussy, an echo of an early college rock sound for the modern day.
And lyrically, it might come from a personal place, but it is a theme that we can all recognise. It is the soundtrack to every phone call not made, every hard decision put off, every new direction in life not taken, every path not followed.
I might write a bit more about the song, but I’ll probably do it later….
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