Ryan David Roberts already had one unlikely career as a founding member of a gold-selling pop-punk band, Cartel, before walking away to chase something stranger and more his own. General Assembly is that something, and “Bad Habit” makes the detour feel worth it.
The song starts right away with gritty guitars and drums that come straight at you, with bright, hypnotic vocals wrapped in reverb and a short, textured delay that gives everything a cool, slightly warped edge. The drums are the trickiest part to pin down; they sound sophisticated in a way that almost feels offbeat, like the pattern is always just slightly ahead of or behind where you expect it to land. That unpredictability is part of what makes the song so interesting. The guitars stay sharp and full of character throughout, and Roberts’ vocal delivery leans playful in just the right spots.
Half-cut gut punch you come around
And it brings me down acting cruel
You damn fool it’s a waste of time
A bad habit acting cruel you damn fool
The lyrics circle exactly around these complicated flaws, like someone you can’t quit even though they keep letting you down, or a habit you know is bad for you but keep falling back into anyway. That restless, repetitive feeling in the words matches the music’s own strange loops and detours.
Twice in the song – once in the middle and once at the very end – everything briefly dissolves into a warped, almost gibberish trance like state before snapping back which in a way seems like the song relapsing into that “bad habit”, a genuinely strange touch that’s hard to compare to much else. “Bad Habit” is a confident, weird, and well-built song, and a strong introduction to where General Assembly is headed next.
Take a listen to “Bad Habit” below.
Written by Toyo Senpai
