I was drawn to Cute Goldfish from the point I listened to the police sirens in ‘Americana’, and the bass riffs fully captured my interest. Cute Goldfish features brothers Stuart Smith, Steve Smith, and Kev Garner, creating a vibrant punk pop sound from Northampton, England. This ultra-energetic punk-pop song grabs you by the neck – both figuratively and literally – within the first few seconds and pulls the listener into this whirlwind for the entirety of its unnerving three-minute duration.
The bold high-energy soundcutting through each and every fiber of the track is unapologetically awe inspiring. Stuart Smith’s live output can only be described as a raw shredded possessed man, the sheer intensity of it has me breathlessly awestruck, especially when coupled with the stuttering vocal effects punctuating the second verse – the intensity quite literally strangling my breath out.
The burst of blustering handclaps forces the song into an even higher gear, and I become dizzy. Each of these stuttering tempo shifts further immerses me into the unabashed youthful cockiness of Cute Goldfish. Here, we have something deeply authentic that combines soul pondering without pretense and a punk rock stunn to hit me completely.However, “Americana” is more than mere aural chaos – it has a rich sociopolitical context at its core. The interrogation of whether we would like to be identified as “the baggy trousers, chilled out latte crowd” or “the industrial mass polluting oil exporters” hints at the deep cracks dissembling American identity.
Cute Goldfish shamelessly and eloquently tap into that crisis. From the hooked opening of the police-influenced intro to drastic innovations like radio tuning effects, “Americana” does it all. It is a breath of fresh air, an unwavering desire not to wither away amidst the growing cultural warfare. In an age of hyper curated, algorithm-friendly drops, this single is exactly what the doctor ordered. That explosive release of feeling is incredible, so much so that I’m still recuperating from the riveting insanity of it. And I never want to come down.
Follow them on socials:
Discover our playlist :