Recorded earlier this year at 'Chez Tobes', 'High Life' is the current single from the London-based four-piece The Breakdown. Taken from their debut album 'Open The Barricades' which is out now.
Lead by a catchy riff, the track is lyrically full of on-the-nose social commentary. 'High Life' documents the time that The Breakdown's lead vocalist Mike Connell moved back in with his family into a high rise block of flats in London's East End. No doubt feeling out of sorts and alienated, the single is no way negative but perhaps best described as lyrically bittersweet.
The band formed just three weeks before first Covid lockdown in March 2020 and since then they have been grafting hard, writing songs and perfecting their sound. There are elements of quintessentially British off-kilter pop such as The Smiths and early Blur to their sound which stays just on the right side of post-punk.
The Breakdown first met as teenagers and this incarnation is fifteen years in the making after a chance encounter. You could say it was serendipity as clearly, the band are meant to be. With elements of classic rock and pop along with a contemporary edge, The Breakdown certainly 'get' what makes a great single. With a guitar that blisters throughout and an endearing vocal, 'High Rise' is one for your playlists.