Brand New Friend - “Open And Shut”

Photo by Aaron Cunningham

Upon the release of their new LP, Grandstand, Ireland’s Brand New Friend return to the blog with the single, “Open And Shut.”

The reverberating chords of clean electric guitar open up this number, setting the mood for some heartfelt and anthemic, indie musical bliss. Moments later, the soundscape expands to reveal a robust arrangement, perfectly pouring a rich foundation that includes the extremely gratifying sound of a tight rhythm section.

This elevation carves a perfect path for the vocals. And this is where Brand New Friend checks off a hefty portion of our boxes, by incorporating the mesmerizing element of male and female vocal harmonies. And in this instance, “Open And Shut” hits us with an army of goosebumps in the way that the two voices accentuate one another, as well as the rest of the production.

This aspect is even more prominent upon the arrival of the song’s hook, which manages to fill any remaining sonic space left in your headphones, without the curse of sounding oversaturated. We are picking up some distinct The Head and the Heart vibes, which alludes to the idea that Brand New Friend would be a great addition to their tour, especially since they’ve already shared stages with the likes of Snow Patrol, Lewis Capaldi, and Starcrawler, to name a few.

Throughout its close-to-four minute runtime, “Open And Shut” displays a firm grasp on dynamic twists and turns, including a heavy-hitting middle eight that will leave listeners returning to admire and musicians returning to study its craft. The song is an epic journey through the gauntlet of sound and we can totally picture it as the crowd-pleasing finale in their setlist.

-HD