There is something intoxicating about a song that captures exactly that feeling of being pulled back to something you know is bad for you and Haus of Sound does that with stunning accuracy in their song, Madness. The Seattle group has come up with their most compelling song to date, a mixture of nostalgic 80s synth-rock with a highly modern feel that is contemporary yet familiar and fresh at the same time.
With the first blast of powerhouse vocals of Gabrielle Burton, you are sucked in to this tornado of sound that somehow makes chaos feel familiar. Her voice has this ideal combination of power and fragility that lends credence to the song and its theme of unhealthy patterns and emotional dependency. It is a sort of vocal performance that makes you put everything you are doing behind and concentrate on the performance.
The production on this is just fantastic- those synths swirling around create this retro-futuristic vibe that it takes you to a dance floor in the year 1985 but with production values that are totally up to date. The drums are punchy and drive everything forward with the drive that is unrelenting and the instrumentation is layered and supports every emotional twist and turn.
What is so brilliant, in my opinion, is how skillfully they have drawn on the likes of Depeche Mode and Maroon 5 but never come across as being derivative. The angularity keeps you on your toes, reflecting the emotional complexity of the themes that they are examining. It is music that resonates in your stomach and causes your body to want to move.
The music video that accompanies the song with its low-lighting and use of smoke gives the song the right feel and atmosphere to balance the emotional depth of the song. This sounds like the music of a group that have finally found their niche–combining music that is both introspective and impossible not to dance to. Madness is evidence that there are times when the best thing to do when your world is spinning out of control is to just dance your way right through it.
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