Single Review - No Shine from The Sun by The Racket

The Racket, a four strong indie rock / indie punk band hailing from Widnes, Cheshire (also my hometown. Yes lads!) has been hard at it since 2016 when they came onto the scene with their own style of rowdy, gritty and energetic indie rock/punk.

Since forming the bands has toured the UK a few times, had extensive radio play and have been tipped as being the ones to look out for in the future. Most importantly, Softlad have had them on a few times at a number of our events.

Embracing the punk side of their influences, The Racket's latest single, No Shine from The Sun vocalises the bands mindset against "the lies and twisted headlines that the press push down the public’s throats everyday". Using the raucous indie rock as showcased in previous releases the band send across their message with extra "umph" to ensure it's crystal clear.

The track starts off with a drum and guitar setting the tempo for whats to come reminiscent of days gone by, sometime around the late 70s where rock was focused down into a more raw form which had venues rammed and alive with people. The retro feel is also evident their psychedelic breaks throughout giving a light and shade to the song. The raw sounding rhythm guitar is contrasted by the clean sounding lead which buzzes through the song seemingly haphazard in some places, which adds to the raucous indie rock they want to produce.

Front-man Callum Codd sings us through the message-laden song with the usual attitude, charisma and powerful vocals. As mentioned above the message is aimed at the press spreading misinformation and the song and title itself is a nod to when The Sun issued their infamous front page article "The Truth" following Hillsborough where they shamefully laid the blame for the tragedy on the Liverpool fans who attended. To this day the newspaper is boycotted and rightfully so.

Overall, its a powerful song aimed at the press who spread wrong information and the frustration around it. Full of catchy licks, lyrics and beats the song, just like their others, will no doubt turn any audience they play for into a wild mess of dancing bodies. Raw indie punk rock at it's best, shining a light on things not right in the world and doing it in an entertaining way. Well in lads.

Check the song out below and let us know what you think in the comments:

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