Tripping out of the darkness and into the light, Pretty Awkward’s “Bored” begins with a dusty instrumental introduction that, despite lasting a mere twelve seconds is more than enough to get us on the edge of our seats for the duration of this three minute pop song. The tempo is disciplined and the string play is a little hazy, but there’s something experimental about the way these two elements are encountering each other in the opening bars of this track. Pretty Awkward are developing a reputation for detail, and in a song like this one, I can appreciate why their sound has been getting the sort of attention from fans and critics in the media alike for the better part of 2019 and 2020.
SMART URL: https://orcd.co/pabored
From a lyrical standpoint, fragility is the first word that comes to mind when I’m listening to “Bored.” There’s a desperation to the chorus that makes me really feel like this is a personal track, growing out of either tragedy or the very notion of isolation (as we’ve known it outside of COVID culture, mind you) neither of which can be traced to self-righteousness. Unlike so many of the electrified ballads I’ve listened to in 2020, there’s nothing specifically slow or romanticized about this performance – it feels balladic because of its tonal presence, and moreover, the way its lyrical content takes on a deeper meaning simply by the means in which it’s being presented to us in the song.
The chorus is when everything truly starts to come together in this single, but I wouldn’t say “Bored” is exclusively driven by the massive hook this juncture of the track offers. There’s a culmination of emotion that suddenly comes undone as we fall upon this moment, and while it’s weighty and strong enough to wipe out just about anything in the room, it’s nevertheless controlled by the execution of the lyrics. Keeping excess out of the equation was an important element of this band recording their latest single, but interestingly enough, I would actually say that the most climactic point in this song is the fleeting moment in which they abandon any and all concern for adhering to the rules of a minimalist model. This too feels intentional, and for a group of musicians as careful as this crew is, why wouldn’t it be?
SHAZAM: https://www.shazam.com/track/536544334/bored
Pretty Awkward have had my attention all year, and for a band that only dropped two singles in 2020, that’s really saying something. “Misfits” is perhaps the flipside to “Bored” in more ways than one, and if any of you were expecting a carbon copy in this latest release, I don’t think you’re really getting why this group is as stylish and worth following as they are. This is a band that isn’t going to give us the same song a forty different ways across five albums; they’re simply too ambitious to allow for such nonsense to penetrate their story, and that’s why their discography is one I as a critic won’t be stepping away from in the next few years.
Garth Thomas