[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOg_fgc4wF0[/youtube]
Now, usually, I don’t do this but uh, let’s go ahead and break ’em off with a little preview of the live version. And let’s be honest, this pretty much had to be the song of the day with the picture of a hospitalized, bed-ridden Madeline Hassett (lead singer of TONDA) making its rounds on Facebook (89 likes and counting) and being touted by the band’s Facebook page as an official album cover leak. And what if I told you this was a recording from that very hospital room, and will be released later in 2014 under the name Emergency Jams (I would be lying).
In an Athens scene where the principal songwriter usually helms vocal duties, for better or worse, you notice when vocal talent becomes emotionally relevant. Vocals in “Untitled” that initially provide something humid and muggy to pair with a bass line striking in the way it hangs its head in resignation. Progressing into a shouting match of vocal chord tearing thrash and shattered cymbals, that passes through and leaves the ground cracked and barren. So soulful and pained sounding are Hassett’s vocals it’s hard to not to picture a savage outpouring of physicality – tearing away the rubber covering of a mic cord with nails ground deep.
Check out the aforementioned track below and head on over to the band’s Bandcamp and Facebook pages if you’re lusting for more.
-Will Guerin