Single Slam: Waterparks, HANABIE. and Blackbriar!

Today’s single slam features Waterparks, HANABIE. and Blackbriar. You can read our thoughts about the latest singles from these bands below.

Waterparks – Red Guitar

Waterparks return with their new single, ‘Red Guitar’ ahead of their performances on the main stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August.

Quips Awsten Knight on their first release on new label home, BMG:

This is the first song back from the best band in the world, Waterparks. After a year of trials and tribulations, we have arisen from the smoke, like Captain America — maybe Iron Man instead. I haven’t seen most of those movies. However Infinity War ended, probably. RIP Ant Man. This is the best song from a band in the last 10 years, ask anyone. Either this song or the next one will be our biggest one, again, ask anyone. RIP Iron Man. Stream the song until we make physicals and then go buy one of those. It’s a plaque attack, baby. I love you. God help us all. Thanks!

They really are good and in a much more confident mood here, but I’m not vibing with this track personally. It’s quite different, and while it is catchy and has some very good lyrics, it doesn’t really do much and certainly doesn’t stand out from the pack when you take into account the brilliance that the alternative scene has delivered so far this year. I don’t love it, but I think plenty of people will.

HANABIE. – Karu Garu Everyday!!

Harajuku-core trailblazers HANABIE. have released a new single ‘Karu Garu Everyday!!’. This track is the theme song to TV anime Araiguma Calcal-dan, filled with adorable and wacky characters.

Speaking on the new single, vocalist Yukina shares:

Listening to the track post-recording, I found the song to be a blend of cuteness, emotional vibes, and surrealness… it made us all laugh with its perfect chaos and being packed with all kinds of emotions! The TV anime has a fun and laid-back vibe, making the tie-in fit perfectly! I hope it becomes a motivational anthem for our fans, giving everyone the energy to tackle each day! Go, go!

Another absolute banger that is astoundingly catchy. I’m beginning to think that HANABIE. are incapable of writing anything but unforgettable music. I don’t know the show, but I really feel the wacky energy of it based off this blast of noise. I love it, I really do. Check it out here.

Blackbriar – A Last Sigh of Bliss

Can love survive beyond the veil?

Blackbriar are proud to release their new single, ‘A Last Sigh of Bliss’, alongside a video. The song details a tragic romance between someone living, and someone deceased.

Vocalist Zora Cock comments:

As the scent of honeysuckle drifts into your bedroom window on a warm summer’s night, this song intoxicates you into a fever dream. Like a bee drowning in honey, you know you’ll die, and yet, you ache for nothing more. It’s a sultry, seductive, and euphoric song with heavy guitars and a chorus that makes you want to run barefoot through a moonlit field in a lace gown.

A very pretty song, one filled with emotion and delivered with the power we’ve come to expect from this band. Blackbriar are sounding so strong, and it seems a dead cert that this new album is going to be their biggest and boldest yet. I’m all here for it.