The Isolated Brigade continue to impress on sophomore single, "Stuck on Payroll"
Review by Austin Sher
Following up their stellar debut, “Murmurs of a Mellow Mind”, The Isolated Brigade have made a triumphant return with the release of “Stuck on Payroll”. Spoiler alert, we are loving it! Do yourselves a favor and check out our detailed review below, in addition to a refresher on this upcoming band.
You may remember not too long ago when we covered The Isolated Brigade’s debut single, “Murmurs of a Mellow Mind”. Well thankfully our hopes have been answered in the form of a fantastic return via “Stuck on Payroll”. According to the band themselves, “Stuck on Payroll” taps into the daydream of the working class hero who's yearning for something more. The blissful guitars ring out as the character imagines what it must be like to travel the open road.” If that doesn’t want to make you scroll down immediately to the bottom of this article and listen, then we don’t know what will.
As detailed in their overall sound, it’s pure and inspired music at its base, but the love from this trio of bandmates certainly has shown through from start to finish. While we sensed more of a garage rock-y sound on the debut, this one has more of a crisper sound. It might be a slight change in production style or instrumentation, but whatever it is, it’s a step in the right direction. For a band finding its bearings at the beginning, we’re thrilled to say that they’re experimenting within the confines of their sound, and the talent they’re emanating really does show.
On “Stuck on Payroll” specifically, normally the first impression you’ll get from a song comes directly from its artwork. Visually and tonally speaking, the artwork for this single gives off a sort of softer vibe in terms of sound. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing in the slightest, more that it fits the overall feel and vibe of the song as a whole. There’s nothing worse than artwork surrounding a single that doesn’t link up with the sound, so we do feel that the choice made here is a plus overall. A shout out to Brad Hofbauer for the great job on this piece of art.
Instrumentally speaking, this track was a bit more subdued compared to the debut in a way that lets the vocals shine a bit more. Not that anyone is slacking or taking a backseat or anything, but different songs will always show off different characteristics of a song. Really what we’re trying to say here is that “Stuck on Payroll” is an impeccable sophomore release from The Isolated Brigade. From the start we’ve truly loved what we’ve heard and will absolutely be following all future releases. It’s not everyday a group of Chicago guys like these can churn out tune after tune and they both are to our liking. So with that being said, just like the last one, we’re highly recommending you kick off your day with a stream or two of this newest track, you will not be disappointed. Enjoy!
For all things The Isolated Brigade, to listen, and to keep up with all future releases, please check out the following links below.
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