Last year, Blue Bendy released their excellent debut album So Medieval. Since then, they've had a lineup change and canceled a tour because of it. The current lineup is vocalist Arthur Nolan, bassist Dina Willock, guitarist Joseph Nash, guitarist Oliver Chester-Nolan, Olivia Morgan on synths, and Tristan Petsola on drums. Today, they've returned with their first music made with the new lineup, which happens to also be their first new music of the year.
On the new single "Poke," singer Arthur Nolan returns with his signature dynamic vocals; he switches from an urgent yelp to an eye-rolling whisper faster than you can say "Blue Bendy." The instruments around him are just as unstable. There's a chunky guitar melody that walks like it has two left feet over stealthily restless drums, anxious piano jabs, buzzy synth chords, and some other wonky sounds. "Poke" colors outside the lines in a real invigorating way.
There's also some standout lyrics: "Hey, I’m six foot two of pain," "corrupt my cheesecake, that foolish red grape," "is it still hot I poked you on Facebook?" In a statement about the single, Nolan muses, “For me it’s just like any fetishised nostalgic romance pop song. Who started the rumour of my insanity, and is a Facebook poke still hot 10 years on? This pretty much sums up our last 18 months perfectly. Maybe with a pinch of salt.”
Watch the video for "Poke" below.
