Be Calm Honcho – “Kid Go Hard” (audio) (premiere)

Be Calm Honcho‘s “Kid Go Hard” is a jangly splash of indie pop, cascading forth on waves of guitar and piano. It’s steady, metered; a whimsical yet deeply grounded track. There are the airy verses, floating on high synths, but they nosedive into stomping drums and handclaps as the chorus begins to roar and the guitars begin to wail. The song flows freely and yet is rhythmically precise all at once, a trick of the light that makes it freer or more solid than you might expect. The fact that I can’t tell which way the trick is leaning is a positive for the song, proof of its songwriting excellence.

“This song is a letter to an old friend; the type you draft and ball up, draft and ball up and then just bike to their house to crouch and curse against their wisteria trellis hoping they can’t sleep either,” says lead singer and keyboardist Shannon Harney.

“Kid Go Hard” is out on OIM Records’ OIM: Volume II, out July 22.