Sometimes the route new music takes to meet #TEAMw21 is a little convoluted, surely none more so than "I See Red" by Everybody Loves an Outlaw. It's inclusion in a Polish film and associated soundtrack album led to it being recommended to the team and what a hot tip it turned out to be.
Bonnie and Taylor Sims from Texas have a distinctive sound built around a prominent guitar and the ability to lyrically plunge the listener immediately into the thick of the drama!
"Did you really think I'd just forgive and forget? - no!
After catching you with her your blood should run cold"
There is little doubt as to what has happened however the foolishness in getting caught is soon revealed, and although the final line that leads into the chorus is an ominous "You're a fool If you thought that I'd just let this go" it gives no real hint as to the blistering nature of what is to come
"I see red, red red - a gun to your head, head to your head"
Any attempts to extricate themselves from the situation see the mans attempt at justification fall on deaf ears.
"Did you really just say "She didn't mean anything? I'll remember those words when I come for your soul
You dug your own grave, now lie in it You're so cruel, but revenge is a dish best served cold"
Second time round the anger of the chorus is reinforced as if needed to be
Executioner style and there won't be no trial don't you know that you are better off dead" - this was definitely the wrong lady to cross. After a drama drenched guitar solo the tense atmosphere is once again returned to as the sound is reduced to the opening guitar refrain.
Bonnie's vocals are delivered with such conviction that it sells the song as being completely believable and the way it builds. to end on such a sudden climax it is as if vengeance has been delivered. Captivating from the very start a great addition to the Americana murder ballad tradition.
"Blood On a Rose" is teased as being part two of the story, once again engaging and cinematic, if it is a direct follow on then the dynamic has somewhat changed. Musically though it is equally as charged and cinematic, with some synth strings immediately ramping up the intensity.
"Your voice in my ear - the world disappears
So I'll fall again you can keep me right here"
If "I See Red" was a love in danger of being permanently terminated, "Blood On a Rose" seems to be the parallel world version where the wronged party
does not have the nerve to become homicidal and is instead tortured by actually still caring for her man destined to be forever in pain.
"This love is killing me - the pain must be part of the cure
It's so hard to breathe when I need you so bad that it burns
You are the fire, love is the blood on a rose"
Bonnie's voice which earlier was so sassy and full of vitriol now seems truly tortured and her ability to convincingly sell the song remains undiminished
"Lost in your eyes, these ties that bind
Body and soul leaving nothing behind
Don't know how to start, don't know how to stay
These chains might break - you like it that way!
Everybody Loves An Outlaw's ability to create such drama in little three and half minute songs is a great talent and this pair of singles deserve as wide an audience as they can get.