Safe Houses are “power garage/pop chunks” from NYC and ‘I’ll Be Bad to You’ is the lead single from their EP ‘The Winter I Turned Psychic’. There is also a music video for the single, which I just checked out. It was a lot of fun, but I am sure they had much more fun making it! I actually hear a lot of Britpop in this track. Some tones and melodies could be by Blur and even some guitar elements by Pulp. It sounds much more raw than those bands, though; there is an element of garage/punk here in the loudness and the tones of the sound, something diy and also slightly vintage. I find it very clever because it is mentioned in the press release that the production is “timeless”, and I thought it was just a copywriting marketing embellishment, but when you listen to the track, it is something that could be done in the 50s, 60s or pretty much any decade after that so they’re spot on there with that choice of description. It is not dated by any means but comes across as something intentionally made retro-sounding. I liked the energy and nostalgia of the song, as well as the harmonies. Last but not least, loved the cover artwork for the single!
Written by Spiros Maus
