SINGLE REVIEW: Bloodhound – ‘Am I Okay?’

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‘Am I Okay?’ is the fourth and final single release from the forthcoming Bloodhound album ‘Fragile Skeleton’ due out at the end of this month.

Musically, for those of you that expected some noisy hard riffing, it’s going to come as something of a surprise. This is a swirling whirling psychedelic thing. And yes there’s guitar driven riffage but there’s all sorts of psychy sounds going on under that. It has, to my ears at least, hints of Pink Floyd, there’s even some Strawberry Alarm Clock in there, and something that is bizarrely Alice Copper like – if you’ve heard ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ you’ll know what I mean. Musically this song is absolutely fantastic.

But the music fits what the song is about. The song is about a big and important subject – mental health. The different sounds in the song reflection the inner feelings of a person with a mental health problem, and what they project to the world. It’s something, as somebody with a mental health problem, that connects to me on a deep, deep level. And the words, the words are meaningful and well worth repeated listening to really hear them. I applaud bands and artists that chose to tackle mental health issues in their songs.

This song is absofuckinglutely brilliant. As a stand alone release it shows what Bloodhound are capable of, it’s complex, it’s incredibly meaningful. As an example of what you can expect from the album, it should really whet your appetite for that. I’ve been sitting on an album preview for some time now and I keep going back and back and back to it, it’s that good.

Now you’ve read, or at least scanned, the review, go take a listen right now. That’s more than a recommendation, it’s an order people.

The info

Speaking about the track, the band explained: “This is the newest song on the album, and was actually born during the first recording session for Fragile Skeleton. It covers possibly the most important topic in this day and age, mental health. It’s a reflection of the struggles of it underneath the surface and the way we, as individuals, hide it on the surface”.

Tour dates

JANUARY

Wed 29 York Victoria Vaults *
Thu 30 Manchester Aatma *
Fri 31 Hull Warren Records [acoustic album show]

FEBRUARY

Sat 01 Hull Polar Bear [album launch night] *
Thu 27 Bishops Stortford Half Moon
Fri 28 Birmingham Actress & Bishop

* with Faux Pas and Brooders

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Frank is the website guy for Local Sound Focus. Takes a lot of photos and loves writing about new music.