My biggest swing and miss in 2024 was The Boy Detective. Somehow I missed both of their releases and didn’t even discover them until halfway through December when I was reading Dane Jackson’s Album of the Year list and he had them listed as the very best album last year. I trust Dane’s opinions and streamed it immediately and realized I had missed out.
It didn’t take long for me to course correct as the Michigan based ska adjacent band released a single on January 3rd, and I was ready this time. If this is the shape of music in 2025, we are in a damn good place- “Unrealized Gains” is a phenomenal track, and it’s more than just ska adjacent, it definitely has some ska roots while still hitting some heavy vocals, outstanding horns, and plenty of punk. The constant refrain of “this is the world out kids will inherit”, marked by constant texture changes throughout the song, it feels hopeful, hopeless, and aggressive at different points in the song while demanding we create the change for the future that was promised to us and abandoned by our own generation and the generations ahead of us. This song is a call to action and it launches us into 2025 with an aggression we need. It’s time to stop being a victim to the world that was created for us, it’s time to split skulls and dance on graves. We cannot leave a world of record corporate profits to the next generation.
I may have missed The Boy Detective in 2024, but you better not miss them in 2025.
Written by Gimp Leg
