Fräulein strike a perfect balance on ‘Wait and See’
Northern Irish and Dutch rock duo Fräulein are wasting no time. Roaring into 2024, ‘Wait and See’ sounds like an early doors statement of intention for the new year as the buzzy new band kicks the door in.
They’re certainly one to watch. In 2023 especially, tracks like ‘Pet’ and ‘Brand New’ felt like a polished and exciting introduction to a new name to know in rock. While their earlier work seemed to be messing around to figure out what the Fräulein sound would be as they grappled between heavier and softer sounds, their latest effort speaks to a band that has more than figured it out.
‘Wait and See’ shows that in abundance. Perfectly balancing huge guitar riffs and front-and-centre drums, the song also has masterful use of quiet. Giving the big moments space to breathe makes them all the more effective.
The winding melodies of the piece are definitely better than your average. With grunge outfits, there is sometimes the feeling that they’ve bashed a song out as loud and raucous as possible and called it a day. The genre can often end up seeming overblown or exhaustive, but not in this case. While calling upon grunge legends, especially Sleater-Kinney, Fräulein have a full grip on their music and are able to navigate the heavy and energetic beast down more intricate paths.
As the staccato verses explode into big luxurious choruses, the journey between them is beautiful. From the necessary and impressive use of a breath’s pause to the perfect production on the vocals that ensure they stay crisp and clear, ‘Wait and See’ is simply a highly refined track.
Feeling like the new wonder kids of grunge, Fräulein are a much-needed antidote to the lacklustre nonchalance of the gripping post-punk scene that seems to dominate live scenes currently. Instead, they deliver high-energy and fun rock songs. They’re exactly the kind of pieces we want to hear live, coming from a band with the sort of clear musical prowess we want to see in action. ‘Wait and See’ does what it’s supposed to as a start of the year January single; it gets us immediately excited to hear more.
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