Brighton’s most enigmatic and, in my humble opinion, underrated band, Thrillhouse have launched the new year with another superb single – ‘Flawed Design’.
Over the past few years, Thrillhouse have released some of the most exciting and innovative music – exhibiting both a strong songwriting craft, dazzling levels of musicanship and above all a creativity and innovation in sound. ‘Flawed Design’ shows nothing has changed.
A driving beat pushes a rampant synth bass riff that bobs and weaves around like a boxer – creating an archetypal funky tone that epitomises the Thrillhouse sound. Vocals have a studied coolness – a David Byrne or David Bowie archness. These guys are very, very good at what they do.
According to the band, ‘Flawed Design’ is:
A song about the constant search for the perfect life, perfect job, body etc etc when, of course, it doesn’t really exist and that perhaps we should be ok with that.
Though as singer Sam Strawberry states:
It’s a little rich coming from me as I’m still looking for all those things too.
Indeed, there is a detectable thread of humour in the band’s lyrics that matches the song’s effervescent and effortless cool:
This is business as usual, and at a very high level. It’s high time the band releases an album. And maybe show their faces.
You can stream the track here.
A tantalising glimpse into Thrillhouse’s fascinating musical influences was provided by the band in an earlier review:
