One of the many problems I seem to come across nowadays within the music industry in relation to upcoming bands, and unfortunately ones in the Yorkshire region, is that a lot of it all just sounds the same. “They sound like early Arctic Monkeys” is all I seem to hear around anymore and for someone’s that’s so immersed in the scene, it’s getting tiring and disappointing.
But this is absolutely nothing like the feeling I got when hearing that first rendition of ‘Perfect Education’. I’m so utterly thrilled with everything about this track, it fills me with hope and relief that finally there is a band who are saying ‘No we don’t want to keep making the same sound everyone else is making, we wanna be different’. It’s actually inspiring, and for me I feel an immense sense of pride for these lads who have come such a long way since the first time I set my eyes on them at Cafe Totem in the summer last year.
Enough of my agenda for a second, we NEED to talk about the track itself. Many people don’t make as big of a deal out of the intro but for me, the fact is if your intro is shit and you don’t capture the listener within those brief few seconds, they will switch off. However, ‘Perfect Education’ launches straight in with each instrument giving it absolutely all, if this was a novel, in medias res would be a perfect way to define it. The shivers that ran down my spine hearing that intro was unbelievable, I can’t recall a song that’s made me feel that intense for a while, all of it coming together, the scintillating guitar riffs coursing through my veins and the forceful pounding of the drums setting my pulse rating – a track that is literally sensational within just seconds.
Such an interesting part about ‘Perfect Education’ are the vocals. With the vocals, they are so different from those of their other tracks which have tended to be grittier and rawer in the past. Despite that, I don’t think there is any criticism about the vocals in this track, I believe they still have that fresh sound and the Yorkshire accent is still there shining through the song, I like the way they’ve produced them, it makes the track as a whole seem a lot more professional and I don’t think you can tell there a band who’s just starting their journey.
Compared to their other songs, I think the lyrics in this track are a lot more impressive too. I love songs that create lyrics which obviously have a certain meaning to them but leave it open to interpretation for the listener and Shangralas have demonstrated this, pardon the pun, perfectly within this song. Just listening to the chorus, you can hear the nostalgic vibe running through ‘Running round in fields of gold standing in this perfect education when you started at the place where you never go‘. These are lyrics that everyone should surely resonate with about childhood and youth, the idea of being naive to the world around us with no responsibilities.
I believe quite frankly with the environment and the current climate we’re facing at the moment, ‘Perfect Education’ is needed right now. A song that, for me, symbolises escapism and a chance to think back to the happier, innocent times. This song deserves so much praise and credit, not just for the fact that its a fucking brilliant tune but for the time in which its release will provide us with some kind of comfort and joy in a very dark place.
I have never had so much respect for a band as much as these who work hard at any given opportunity and I want to thank them for restoring my faith in the Yorkshire music scene.
‘Perfect Education’ should be out sometime this week, I can’t wait for you all to get the feeling I did on that first play. Happy listening guys, stay safe!
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