The Battery Farm’s new single, Crude Oil Water, really does have potential. On the whole its actually superb. But it’s held back by a few small but ultimately very impactful things which I will talk further about later. In order not to be too negative, I want to show you all what I found really positive about this track…
First of all, that wobbly bass synth riff is outstanding, in fact that whole intro/verse section is brilliant, the building drum and bass lines really add some punch to a synth track that I would never have expected in this context. By the time the vocals come in I’m already dancing round my bedroom, and the vocals are also a far cry from what I thought I would hear, it is in a much higher register, and is much catchier, than most synth punk tunes yet still maintains the aggressive style and lyrics found in the genre. It’s truly impressive.
But as things come up they must also go down, I was so pumped for the chorus for this song, I literally punched the air at exactly the right point where it SHOULD have come in. However, the bass and vocals build at certain points, at what I think is supposed to be a chorus, but they don’t last long enough, or have the volume jump to be noticeable. I was expecting an ear destroying bass riff or perhaps some in your face punk chords, but instead we get this weird interlude thing, and you hear it twice! The track suddenly slows down instead of getting to the glorious crescendo I desperately wanted to hear. I’m not sure if its due to a poor mix or poor performance, but the vocals sound terribly out of key from the rest of this section. The background atmospheric noise heard throughout the track, but especially during this sequence, are both distracting when you are listening to the song as a whole and barely above noticeable unless you really focus. It creates this irritating sensation of hearing something that you have no idea where it is coming from. This is most likely due to a poor mix.
It really saddens me that a track like this, one that has so much going for it is ultimately cheapened by a poor mix and just one section of an otherwise stand out track. I truly hope that The Battery Farm take Crude Oil Water and refine it (see what I did there?) into something truly spectacular. In the meantime, the other tracks in their discography are also worthy of your attention, especially I Am A Man. I hope you all enjoy listening to them, they are one to be watched, even if I am slightly disappointed with this particular track.
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar