Don’t let the high octane guitar, waltzing bass, and dancing drums fool you, Emily Davis & The Murder Police might be having fun, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be serious at the same time.
‘Why Weren’t They Stunned’ is a tribute to the shocking indifference and willingly blinkered existence of the modern world. The venomous and witty lyrics are only matched by the sumptuous vocals and intelligent instrumentation.
As mentioned above the music is just good ol’ fashioned punk but dialled up a little bit. The guitar is big and rings out clean, but ultimately quite modest throughout the majority of the track, until the intergalactic solo in the breakdown that is. Without the guitar ego hogging the soundscape it’s super easy to hear the absolutely bonkers little bass riff that weaves underneath. The drums are a delight, they’ve got a little jazz to them and it sings at the heart of this song, the track opens on just the drums and they remain consistent and utterly uplifting throughout.
So we’ve established that the Murder Police are here to slay, but what about Emily Davis herself? Vocally she’s a powerhouse and lyrically; it’s a little blunt, but that just means it hits just as hard as the music. Right at the beginning of the song Emily shows off her lungs by perfectly navigating between her head voice and her belt with that gorgeous Irish folk yodel.
From there on the track and the vocals especially just continue to build and build until the final crescendo when it becomes a true soul shout all the instruments and the vocals soaring to their highest peak.
Lyrics you just have to sing along to:
“Ignore the floating fish, they don’t exist!”
If this ED&TMP tackling a darker and more serious subject matter then imagine how much fun they have on a good ol’ drinking song. You can’t call this pop punk, it’s got too much folk running through its veins. It’s powerful, it’s polished, it’s perfect.
Emily Davis & The Murder Police have something special, the magic that only comes from truly loving what you do and having fun with it. It makes every track sound a little louder, every lyric hit a little harder. It makes you fall in love with them and the music they make.
Check out this track and pre-order the album for when it comes out on June 25
Words by Matt Miles
