Have you ever heard a record that absolutely defies classification? I’m pretty damn good at filing songs into sub-genres with almost a decade of reviewing music under my belt, but WNTALN has gone and made me feel utterly clueless. Their new single “WAY OUT” has a trap influenced beat with a thunderous low-end, ska horns that would sound right at home on a Streetlight Manifesto cut, guitar-work that would fit on a Santana track, and vocals that alternate between casually sung and intensely rapped.
It’s an utterly unique track that offers an exciting proposition – in my 22 years of living, I’ve literally never encountered a song like “WAY OUT” before. That means music still has the ability to totally stop me in my tracks – I’ve heard harsh noise, I’ve heard 20 minutes of reverberating bass guitars, I’ve heard ear-piercing black metal, and yet WNTALN was able to surprise me beyond belief. My work requires me to understand trends, so much so that I’m sometimes forget about all the experimenting musicians are doing at the fringes of the scene. I can only hope that “WAY OUT” brings WNTALN from the fringes to the forefront.
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