THORN
Dark Soul
Thorn is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and London resident, Charlie Thorne. He has been working on his craft for over a decade now, creating a vision of glam and rock, of angst and whimsy, Cirque du Soleil and horror. This track, his debut, is exceptionally strong - artistically and technically. The central hook is easily memorable. The tones are massive and unique. The energy and passion portrayed definitely make him one to watch - here’s our review of Dark Soul:
Track starts in true art rock fashion - a collection of tones and off beats that are far removed from the groove that arrives at 0:27. When it comes, it’s a great funk groove pulling hard off a minor 6, with a fuzzy bass tone, highly compressed kick and snare sounds and ambient dirt. Great, filthy groove. When the vocals come in, it’s almost like a free-form rap that doesn’t line up with the beat per se, but lines up perfectly with feel and angst. If THORN has listened to a boat load of Bowie, Iggy Pop and Art of Noise, it’s brilliantly showing here. There’s also a taste of Henry Rollins and Black Flag, but you need to hear it to understand how well he’s doing it and how current this sound is.
The lyrics are self-deprecating, criminal, dark and funny. They set you up for a most unexpected pre-chorus and chorus with an ambient swirl that builds behind the groove and lyrics like a dirty tornado that’s trashing everything in its sonic path. It’s broken up by the rhythmic hits of the pre-chorus that conjure up images of a supergroup between The Cult and DMX, Prodigy and Garbage. The chorus blows it wide open with a change in lead vocal delivery, tempo and feel, then we’re back into that great fuzzy groove for a second verse that takes the energy and degradation to another level. Great job keeping the second verse short and sweet - no need to drag this part out when the payoff is in the chorus.
The second chorus mirrors the first, but there’s a nice change coming when he changes keys and repeats it. When you put the lyrics in context, this makes for great production and would be great to see live.
There’s a break in production after that “3rd” chorus that is pure art-rock passion. Great kick pattern and tones. Spoken words muted in the mix. Heavy sonic textures. All of this centered around a tempo of roughly 57 BPM that swings as heavy as an anvil. That takes us back into the solid chorus outro featuring the female lead. The fade out outro is like hearing the storm leave the town.
This is a daring composition, a very risky sonic and lyrical journey that is executed beautifully. Most won’t get it on the first listen, but if you break down each part and try to isolate what you’re hearing it will all come together. For this to be his first release is quite remarkable. It shows a level of production that most never attain, a strength in developing catchy lyrical hooks, and an understanding of theory and composition to create memorable sonic lines (particularly bass lines). Nice job THORN, this is cool as hell - we look forward to your next release!