Right out of the gate we found a common tongue between us. With that language in hand, we fabricate music we want to hear that we aren't hearing elsewhere. Each track is a new journey in familiar scenery. To us, having fun sounds like this...
What's being said about Barrett's Hidden Agenda's debut EP "TenseUp!"
Barrett's Hidden Agenda's new EP Tense UP! is a full throated, honest and sometimes painful commentary on the world we live in today, the space we exist in fantasy, and the reality that what it all really boils down to is having a great family and great friends around you that will stand with you no matter the circumstance. And, the EP makes it clear that if they don't stand with you in the consumer obsessed, instantly gratified and impatient society we live in, the consequences may not end in your favor. If you allow yourself to accept the honest and painful commentary Tense Up! delivers, you are taken on a journey inside yourself. The band plays the music powerfully and all knowing, unassuming in the confidence of the choices they make.
The EP opens with a searing guitar lick and the brutal honesty of a world dependent on fossil fuels and the degradation of the soul in "Blood In The River", a song with a sound so visual you feel and believe you can actually see oil rigs pumping love from Mother Earth. This is followed by a gentle, reggae reminder in "Bli$$ America" that yes, in this instantly gratified society, everything is in fact, for sale, and you can have it all at a drastically reduced rate, if you would only act now. And if you do act now, "Bli$$ America" will be happy to 'double that'. The EP then changes the speed, mood and groove, moving you down the road with a hitchhiker, a former lover or the spirit of the love that is still in your mind, using one another to get what you need on the road to "Palatine". The tempo and the mood remind you of hope while the story takes you deeper into a world you realize you may actually only be faking it in to arrive at your next destination. It doesn't matter if your next destination is good or bad, all that matters is that it is somewhere else. In the search for wonders held on your journey, "Dopamine" may give you the release you crave, but as the violin haunts and roams throughout the piece, it reminds you that release comes with a price, payment is due, and be careful what you wish for because it just may come true. "Sawblade" comes in quick and light to tie this intense five song snapshot together, and just like the entire EP, it quickly leaves a mark making you question what your motivation may be.
Tense Up! not only explores the deception of humanity and the world we inhabit today, it also offers the hope that collectively, we can, as a civilized community of people, band together, become family and friends. And, if we do all band together, we just may pull ourselves to freedom. As the EP finishes, every track so individually diverse and powerful to give the listener enough room to paint the picture for themselves. It may or may not be a tortured world. It really does depend on your perspective, and the family you have by your side. It's about this time that I go back to the beginning, feel that searing guitar strike oil on "Blood In The River" and take the ride all over again.
In a society with a short attention span, don't miss out on Tense UP!, act now…
James Larson is DJ, Producer, and Co-Founder of Steelbridgeradio.