One True Pairing shares new single ‘Frozen Food Centre’
The band Wild Beasts were renowned for bringing an element of sensuality to British indie music. It is hardly a surprise then that in his solo venture, former co-leader Tom Fleming, also known as One True Pairing, goes down a similar route. His ability to pair sensual instrumentation with poetry is clear as ever on the brand new single ‘Frozen Food Centre’.
Fleming was inspired by Chris Maker when writing this track, quoting him when he said: “I have been around the world several times, and now only banality interests me.” Essentially, this song is an ode to the unoriginal, to the workings of everyday life that people take for granted but that have beauty buried within them.
The song begins with trickling acoustic guitar, simple and nod-worthy as an oscillation between the high and low creates a backing track for Tom’s homage to the mundane. His voice comes in warm and sure of itself as he makes reference to reservoirs, supermarkets and day-to-day working life. It is a thing of beauty but not faultless.
When talking about the song, Fleming mentioned it has “been in my head for about seven years”. That’s a lot of time to think about something, as is reflected in the elongated run time of ‘Frozen Food Centre’. There is nothing wrong with a long song, but the new One True Pairing single seems to be somewhat ham-stringed by its length.
It is cinematic in that it feels like it’s about 90 minutes long. The track develops naturally as harps and violins are added to the backing track, but not enough happens for the listener to remain as engaged as they should. It means that overall, the song is pleasant to listen to but doesn’t do enough with the time it has to have any replay value.
There is a lot to like about this track. It sounds beautiful and is put together incredibly well, but it falls flat in its execution, given the length of it.
You can listen to the new single ‘Frozen Food Centre’ by One True Pairing below.
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