Last month I wrote about The Boy Detective’s most recent single, releasing just a month after their last EP, and holy shit, they’re back at it with another single. In case you missed it, The Boy Detective is a punk rock band out of Michigan, who disguised themselves so well as a ska band that both the band and the fans got confused and just accepted as fact that they are a ska band. Don’t worry, this has never happened before (Devon Kay & the Solutions, I’m talking to you).
Aside from being incredibly prolific right now, The Boy Detective is writing absolutely great music- so much so that there were several ska and punk music fans that declared their last album as the best album of 2024. I am constantly being told that they are the most fun live show performing right now in the scene (I’ve yet to be able to see them). I absolutely fell in love with their previous single, “Unrealized Gains”, and after listening to this track, you should probably go listen to that one next then the rest of their back catalog.
“Ixnay On the Ondescentioncay” is only a short 1 minute and 39 seconds, starting with a fast tempo drum beat which sets the tone for the song as one of my favorite horn sections lays out a smooth simple horn line, then the horns switch up, add a few punches, queuing the guitars to liven up the rhythm, and the vocals kick off. The song is pretty straightforward with no chorus. I’m a little disappointed in the lyrics, as they are mostly interpersonal conflict, and it doesn’t appeal to my current mental state. This is not to say the song isn’t great, just that the lyrics aren’t reaching where I am right now- and that’s unfair of me.
The instrumentation, however, is fucking phenomenal. Yes, it’s a punk song with horns, but goddamn is it a great song. After the first verse, the horns layer on that slow smooth line from the intro, then, as it switches up with the short punchy notes, it queues a guitar solo that dominates the next several seconds and absolutely erupts into the second short verse.
Go out, jam this song, play it on repeat. Then, do as I said earlier, go listen to the rest of their music, because The Boy Detective is absolutely crushing the scene right now, and everything they do is a masterpiece.
Written by Gimp Leg
