Nashville’s The Thing With Feathers Releases New Single
Single Review ★ Nash Jones ★ @_nash_jones★ 600 Words
With a loud crack of the drums, the new track by Nashville Indie-rockers The Thing With Feathers throws you into it headfirst. Hot on the heels of a recent tour with The Hails and Never Ending Fall, the trio –made up of vocalist Dave Welcsh, guitarist Alex Hendricks, and drummer Chris Roussell– began rollout for their upcoming debut LP. “Catching Your Eye” is the most recent of the two singles released so far, and possibly their best track to date. From the vividity of the mood to the impeccable melodic structure, the song is sure to catch your ear.
(left) The Thing with Feathers via Hannah Gray Hall (right) Dave via Karli Bennett
The tone of the track is quick to establish itself. Our narrator is feeling very self-assured, even smug, with the lines “Had your moment, come on, talk shit/ I’m feeling contagious”. The verse establishes a cyclical back-and-forth between two people, specifically with the request to “Put the old hits back in rotation.” Particularly through lines in the chorus such as “It’s driving you crazy, you wanted to hate me/ But everyone knows you’re mine,” the song does a great job at blurring the line of animosity and intrigue. I joked to friends that it could almost be imagined like an old Wattpad upload at times. Is the archetypal “y/n” reading a book in the crowd, feigning disinterest? Either way, the narrator tells them that nobody’s fooled.
The use of the phrase “I know” may seem inconsequential on paper, but is essential in making the song what it is. While rather miscellaneous, these two words play a huge role in establishing a character when put into context with the certainty it evokes. In this way, as well as some of the sounds of the track, I found myself reminded of “Here’s The Thing” by Fontaines DC. Whereas in “Here’s The Thing,” this knowledge of “I know you’re watching,” and, “I know you’re right,” are information that comes from a place of unrest, the lyrics in “Catching Your Eye” “I know that I’m on your mind,” and “Yeah, I know that you want me” establish the character as sure-of-himself and rather cocky. A multifaceted phrase like this, when put into context with other lyrics, paints an even more vivid picture.
In terms of sound, “Catching Your Eye” makes it known immediately that it’s leading into something. Quickly after settling into the verses, there’s a buildup that results in a melodic tension which beckons to be resolved, leading into the chorus and resolving at the end. In simple terms, the melody is so damn catchy; I even dusted off my long-unused music theory knowledge to learn why. The song is in the key of B-minor, and vocally, the first few lines of the verses both start and end with a B-note. Throughout the prechorus and chorus, though, the fifth note of the scale, also called the dominant, is utilized, and ends a few phrases. Within a minor scale, the dominant is an unresolved place to be melodically– It feels as though it’s supposed to be leading into something. This creates a thoroughly enjoyable melodic ambiguity, an energy that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the resolve at the end of the chorus with, “I’m catching your eye,” which has some noteworthy vocal riffing, and is expertly complimented with the guitar part. At the end of the final chorus, however, the melody is again left in an ambiguous place, as the dominant note is held out in the last repetition of the song’s title, among a storm of drums and a fast-moving guitar rift.
“Catching Your Eye,” is an expertly-crafted new single from The Thing With Feathers. The listening experience of this tune both begins and departs with the instinct that something big is coming, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.
