It’s no understatement to say that music in 2020 is being borne out of frustration. Obviously that yields different results for everyone. Also, what frustration are we picking? The list of choices is quite frankly exhausting. But frustration doesn’t have to be exhausting, in fact, it can be quite liberating knowing that you have a right to be angry.
Enter Bristol’s The Pleasure Dome, looking to inject us with some much needed relief via their new single, ‘This Room is For Gold And There is No Use For It’.
A song about frustration in more ways than one, the track details the collapse of a relationship, whilst also channeling the band’s anger after December’s election result. Grisly and lean, the song’s “use the bare minimum” approach suits the tone well, and gives it a grumbling undertone that’s lightened by the pitchy rambling vocals. It’s naturally punky, but in a well adjusted way; imagine a rough looking skinhead with immaculately clean Doc Martens.
The Pleasure Dome start out oppressive, with levity brought by a scant chuckle, but then launch into a performance seeded with the rickety charm of Liars, and propulsive songwriting of JET. Words tumble out of the singer’s’ mouth in a drawl, swooping and diving like a car going downhill without brakes.
Lyrically, it quite literally looks inwards, telling us to find what we need from life with self-introspection. Though it fakes its mindfulness on occasion, the song barrels along with such conviction that it can be enjoyed mindlessly. And there are some intriguing lines, such as “My heart aches like a Sunday afternoon in June,” that could be competently, if lazily, applied to our lockdown situation. Such is the miracle of retrospective contextualizing.
The bass tone is fat as hell, rumbling like a train through a long tunnel, and the snare is a good sharp stab that funnels that aggression nicely. The staccato guitars, very much reminiscent of Bloc Party’s early work, completes the picture with a flourish.
The Pleasure Dome are here, and they’re pissed off. They have every right to be. However, the track (which can be remembered with the following super catchy anagram: ’TRIFGATINUFI’) has just enough bile and guts to show its seriousness without going overboard. So yeah, there’s frustration, but there’s also fun and purpose. Who are you to ask for more?
‘This Room Is For Gold And There Is No Use For It’ is out now. Stream it on Spotify, here.
