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[6.30]
Iain Mew: Never mind the long wait since the last single, The Good Natured’s long album gestation period means it’s been FIVE YEARS since I first heard her on the lo-fi Warriors EP. “5-HT”, with its explosive rave-up sections, harks right back the raw excitement of those teenage recordings while still having the hooks and production values of “Skeleton”, and it’s a great combination. I also appreciate the twists on comparing someone to a drug, both that the substance in question is identified as serotonin and that the music actually lives up to that metaphor.
[8]
Rebecca A. Gowns: The first minute is sort of snoozy, then the real beat drops and it gets a lot more fun. I sort of hate the verses — it would be cool if the current chorus/dancey part was the verse and the chorus was twice as loud (or twice as soft)…just not the sleepy stuff at the beginning that’s dragging it down. Maybe it’s the kind of thing that’s perfect for a remix. I like her voice, it’s on the better end of those thin indie-rock-type voices, but I think if it was processed/produced differently I’d like it a lot more.
[4]
Alfred Soto: Stretching vowels like they’re taffy instead of opiates produces a lickety chorus, but where’s the rest?
[6]
Anthony Easton: The directness of the metaphor, and the oddly medical feel of the term “opiates” are interesting enough to almost cover the bland Alice in Wonderland references, but not enough to work through a vocal that is not fully committed to a complete meltdown.
[6]
Ian Mathers: I had trouble writing blurbs for this song and Frida Sundemo’s “Snow,” because both songs seem to work (or not) the same way to me, and neither is very inspiring. Or rather, both have big, booming choruses that should feel euphoric, or triumphant, or something similar. But the problem with reaching for that feeling is that if it doesn’t work for a listener, you wind up sounding hollow. And once you sound hollow, singing about opiates just feels a little silly.
[5]
Scott Mildenhall: The big ravey bits in this sound like something you might hear blaring out across the waltzers at a fairground in Mablethorpe or Wigan. The only problem with that in reality would be that actually hearing the whole thing while hurtling around in one of those oversize dog baskets could make for a pretty disturbing ride. In fact, it’s a scenario that would make most sense as part of an ITV1 drama: the young girl comes to the fairground one night with her new boyfriend. They’re on the waltzers with a bag of chips, and she’s laughing away as the lights, sounds, all senses blur, oblivious to what the viewers at home have been beginning to suspect – there’s something not quite right about this boy.
[8]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: There is a real sense of 90s-indebted nostalgia to “5-HT,” aquality that stems from the group and producer Richard X’s usage of classicdance breaks in the chorus and an alt/trip-hop leaning atmosphere on the verses.Vocalist Sarah McIntosh allows the song to breathe in the present, but the naggingover-familiarity ultimately leaves it feeling a little milquetoast, a moment ofpreciousness.
[6]
Brad Shoup: It’s a fuller sound — with synths that trail barbs, a nice d’n’b lift and a stunning chord progression in the refrain — but still taut. Lyrically, it’s a science lesson: literal, a bit too pleased with what it’s imparting.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: There’s something off about this. The metaphor, perhaps; it’s love like serotonin, which is accurate enough but just a little uncanny, like one of those Zoloft commercials. It doesn’t help that they use the clinical term, the one associated with antidepressants and those other opiates. Or that melody and chords become drifty and minor before too long, or that the breakdown sounds obsessive in the wrong way, or that McIntosh sings like she’s more in pain than love, like maybe this relationship’s taken a turn for the tense. That’s twice, then, that a Good Natured song has sounded to me significantly less cheery than intended — but this time I think it’s on purpose.
[8]
Will Adams: I’m skeptical of a band that doesn’t know its way around a drum break.
[5]