Big Romance’s latest single “Self Medicate” shows their ability to mix genres to excellent effect, blending shoegaze, indie and post-punk together in a rewarding mixing pot of gorgeous production and great songwriting.

Opening with a reverb-heavy 90s feeling introduction, I was immediately reminded of the Siamese Dream era Smashing Pumpkins with its dreamy production and vocals.

This is quickly interrupted by a laid back verse with a real slacker vibe, fitting well into the established vibe of the track.

The pre-chorus shifts gears as the distantly distorted guitar stalks the vocal melody with fuzzy distortion and precision.

Eventually, the tracks anticipation pays off, unveiling a twinkling guitar solo that reminded me of dream pop bands such as NewDad.

The spacious nature of the production throughout illustrates the band’s love of shoegaze whilst highlighting their focused songwriting.

The introspective lyrical approach that the track takes examines coping mechanisms and relationships with sharp lyrical quality.

When the chorus hits, it hits hard. I can hear the influence of Slowdive in the production through the heavenly feel brought by the backing vocals, and the swirling guitars drenched in distortion and reverb.

A crunching guitar solo fires through the crescendo of the track, adding an appropriate ending to the song, before its distortion blends into the mix, allowing the song to sail off into the sunset.

Overall, the song combines the best bits from various subsections of indie music, making it easy to get on board with production you can sink into and sharp songwriting.