Kiwi rockers Racing have just issued the EP The Bass, a briskly paced collection of danceable tracks heavy on neon rhythms and deep, deep groves. “Misbehaving” is a superior example of the band’s soulful sensibilities. Funkified basslines and guitar transport listeners to the heat and hedonism of the dance floor while the quartet, including Ed Knowles and Sven Pettersen (ex-the Checks) and Daniel Barrett (Sherpa) and Izaak Houston, (Space Creeps), do their best to upset expectations about the parameters of a pop song. Lead guitar lines land somewhere between Hendrix at his height and the near absurdity of 8-bit music; gang vocals allow listeners to sing at the top of their lungs and lose themselves in the track’s carefree ways before being.
The accompanying enhances the dizzying, sometimes disorienting tendencies of the song itself. It is in some ways a throwback to a time when the medium was at its height. Celebratory and strange, it is a seemingly perfect way for listeners and viewers alike to cast their worries aside and embrace the almighty beat.
Racing strikes a remarkable balance between the sense and sensuality of both Roxy Music and Chic while maintaining the accessibility of Duran Duran and the Scissor Sisters.