WARCRIES “Run for the Hills”

Crushing beats and kaleidoscopic grooves and electronically-faceted textures are most everywhere we listen in the latest single from WARCRIES, “Run for the Hills,” but those already familiar with this acclaimed power duo likely expected nothing less when they got word of their dropping new material this March. In “Run for the Hills,” synthetic melodicism plus organic harmonization creates pure magic for electronica enthusiasts around the world this spring, and whether you’re a diehard fan of the genre or are merely an occasional observer with a desire to get your swing on in 2020, it’s an accessible listen I would recommend to anyone who loves a righteous rhythm. WARCRIES might not be changing the framework of their genre in this most recent studio dispatch, but if one thing is for sure, they’re reaffirming their status as one of the underground’s most important acts to watch this year.

“Run for the Hills” as one of the sexiest basslines I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing in the month of March, and personally I think that it’s one of the most integral elements present in the song with regards to making the hook sting as hard as it does. I like that WARCRIES seemingly did everything they could from behind the soundboard to make the bass parts as independent from the other components in the groove as possible without losing focus of the binding melodic fabric holding everything together here, and though it doesn’t overshadow the rest of the instrumentation in the track, it’s arguably the most provocative feature to behold outside of the vocal in “Run for the Hills.”

It would be really interesting to isolate the singing in this song from the instrumental melodies, if for no other reason than to measure the distinctions in physicality between the two. I can’t be certain, only because of the deliberately chaotic stylization of the mix (which, I should note, is something that I really like about this single), but I honestly think the lead vocal and all of the fractured harmonies it conjures up are likely as big and bold in sonic size as any of the synthesized parts here are. Whether it be the verses or the virtuosic groove that pushes them toward us, there’s something bound to get you moving in “Run for the Hills,” which just can’t be said about every indie EDM track out this season.

If this is just a preview of what we can all expect to hear out of WARCRIES in the new decade, I think it would be safe to say that we’ve only just begun to hear what they can really accomplish when there isn’t anything to prevent their creative wits from running wild. “Run for the Hills” is a shot of adrenaline in a year that has been missing the spiked heat that made the soundtrack of the 2010s so irrefutably climatic, and from where I sit, it’s got the right kind of potential that this unit needs to finally segue their sound from the underground into the mainstream.

Michael Rand