I was worried it'd be the former but given the album context I think it's the latter

the transition in and out of the chorus is aces

Reminds me of Radiohead rockers like Electioneering or Bodysnatchers

This is the best song on the record for me, nice to hear (in my ears) the band playing around with some Midnight Oil/Split Enz vibes in parts.

i think you were the first person to make the split enz connection. thats a good call

They really let McCready off the leash on this one. That ending is nuts

i think the whole record can be interpreted as either.

Must be our Aussie ears!

Good call indeed. It was really bugging me that I couuldn't put my finger on which band/s this felt so reminiscent of.

I made a comment in another thread about how the album feels like it was made by a band of super-fans of other artists. You can practically name a direct influence for every track on the album.

What a delight. The drums of the chorus make me dance every single time. I love how Mike's solo at the end switches between left and right channels when listening on headphones.

This wild, a metal Bad Radio song.

The newness is definitely colouring my opinion.

I'll say this -- it has its own vibe that still somehow belongs beside Go, Animal, DTE, RVM, and Corduroy.

Ms Harmless, ever since you mentioned the horror punk vocals on the back half, I can't stop thinking about it. Really, really cool use of an Ed affectation.

I can't name a band who's done it (a genre, psychobilly) but I guess a very popular song that has the vibe is "Monster Mash", it's those ghostly vibrato speaky spooky woos

they really work for this song and made me smile from ear to ear in the theatre

Put it in the small playlist of "Pearl Jam songs you can dance to"
This is a bit indie disco / dance punk

The bridge has My Fathers Son bridge vibes

yeah! I was dancing in my chair at the cinema, love what Matt is doing

oh, and that "scary" laughter in the outro cements this

Now I want a whole album in this style

can't fuckin get over this one