The South London four-piece touch upon the oh-so familiar uncertainties of twentysomething-hood on this warm, moseying reintroduction.
Photo: Lewis Graham | Words: Hazel Blacher
Absorbingly soft and yet rugged to the touch, 'what a waste of time' serves as a welcome insight into the gently synergetic sonic world of South East London's wonderbug. As the preliminary teaser from their upcoming and dually announced debut EP 'scrap', the single loosely explores how young adulthood inevitably brings with it a growing realisation of life's transience. "We've all grown up in London and seen a lot come and go" the band say of the track, "This song is about finding joy in impermanence and moving on, eventually".
Scooping up the listener in an affirming grasp of sweetly sung, indie-grunge fuzz, 'what a waste of time' sees the four-piece building near-anthemic structures, iron-clad in strength and toasted with a sun-dried coarseness While foundationally, the arrangement is a prescriptively uncluttered ensemble of unshorn bass and guitar, this is texturally punctuated by vocal harmonies that veer into delectably peculiar shapes, warped by effects pedals. The track bristles and drifts with a charming, leisurely ease, bolstered by a stylistic adjacence to open-palmed slacker rock in its unabating snugness and vocalist Edie Chester's captivatingly dulcet incantations.
"Slow and steady wins the race" she faultlessly exclaims at the first verse's end. It is a comforting and familiar adage that, at its core, elucidates exactly what makes this track so compelling. It forms the reinforcement of a truth that many often need reminding of: It's okay to still be figuring things out.
