Digital Escort – “Pretty Poison”

Digital Escort – “Pretty Poison” – Single Review

How did that old theme song go?  “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life” – that right, ain’t it?  It’s certainly true, that much I can confirm for a certainty.  We go through ups and downs as creatives…points of obvious inspiration and other times where we just do our level best to hold things together and make’em work…the highs and the lows, the peaks and the valleys…all that shit is natural, because art and music are a genuine reflection of what life is like to live.

In the case of Digital Escort, they know I’ve got a whole lot of love for them, and feel like there’s a lot more potential in their band than the vast majority of the ones I come across as a music critic.  That being said, they’re not stranger to those highs and lows, and I’ve called the balls and strikes in the past when I feel like they’ve slipped out of frame for a moment or two.  They’ve ultimately been much more hit for me than miss, which I suspect is equally true of how most out there listening would feel about’em – but we have to remember that even most superheroes are still human at the end of the day…even the artists and bands we all love the most don’t go crackin’ the bat every single time they’re up to the plate.

So…I suppose where I’m at with “Pretty Poison” would be to say that it’s alright…it’s a decent tune in the Digital Escort catalog.  The positive side of the scenario is that their production and execution is still firing at an extremely high level and their professionalism/tightness as a band continues to show the kind of growth well worth mentioning.  The downside of this single is that it’s hard to justify the material being up to the standards they’ve set in the past and it feels like they’re moving a bit backwards in that regard.  I’m not going to say I’m entirely indifferent about “Pretty Poison” because I’m not – but I’ll fully admit to feeling closer to that mark with DE than perhaps I’ve ever been.  The energy of this track feels strange right from the get-go…nearly lethargic and drained as it begins, which would make it tough for anyone to get too excited about the newest Digital Escort single, you feel me?  Having said that, they’ve always pulled at least a little bit of their sound from the Post-Punk/New Wave scene…so don’t get me wrong, I’m totally used to a lack of energy and I can usually navigate that fairly well – hell, I’m quite often drawn to that somewhat anemic vibe myself in the music that I listen to when I’m off the clock.  I wouldn’t tell any of those bands or artists that they’ve got something exciting by definition either in that respect…we all understand what that style of sound offers & it resonates with many of us even despite the fact that it’s tougher to want to yell and scream about loving it when we do.  Where I feel like Digital Escort runs into issues here isn’t so much with the verses, but in not really raising the stakes of the chorus in a way that’s going to be interesting enough to keep listening ears as engaged as much as I’m assuming they’d want them to be.  “Pretty Poison” goes on to be…fairly…ordinary?  Normal?  Expected?  Average?  It could be any of those things I guess, but that seems problematic to me for a band that is well-known to test the threshold and has an uncanny ability to really shake the walls when they’re feeling it.  And I guess that’s the thing here…in my opinion, Digital Escort has got a cut that they have made competently, yes – but it sounds like they’re somewhat far removed from really feeling this moment they way that they should be and/or the way that we know they can.  Lyrically, I think there are a plethora of issues that dog this one…stuff in the verses like you’ll find right away – “the voices in my head, they make me feel real dead” – as opposed to like…what…fake dead?  More dead than normally dead?  Weird line.  “I just wanna be never ever ever” also qualifies as a bizarre choice, though I’ll admit I feel like I eventually came around to like that idea enough.  It’s still not my favorite line, but it is actually kind of clever too.  Then you’ve got the chorus, which almost feels a little like they’ve taken the easy way out if I’m being honest with ya…they’ve gone with the title as the lyrics you’ll find, and even those two words are fairly spread out as the energy of the music increases in “Pretty Poison,” which gives this single a push/pull vibe that seems to be wrestling against itself, and never quite feels like they’re really doing enough.

From the very start of listening to Digital Escort I have continued to encourage and push this crew to one-up itself along the way…because deep down I know the same things they do…that they’re entirely capable of doing that.  As per the ‘facts of life’ and such, it’s not always going to happen…no matter how hard anyone might try…sometimes our focus drifts and sometimes it’s simply applied to different places more than others.  Like, Digital Escort has got themselves a KILLER bridge in “Pretty Poison” around the 2:05 mark that can’t help but steal the show here…entertaining and energetic to the point where you’ll hear it and go, THAT is the hook…and that’s what they probably should have built this whole song around.  That singular moment gets us so pumped up that it even helps make that next run through of the chorus seem a bit more alive than it really is.  Production-wise, I feel like they’re right where they wanna be.  Even performance-wise I think they’re still delivering at an extremely high level.  Material-wise…that’s where I personally think Digital Escort has to be mindful and objective about whether or not they’re putting out the best of what they can do, or if they’re still leaving something else on the table somewhere.  Because I don’t think we should ever question whether or not DE has done ‘enough’ to keep us entertained when they’ve proven to be as undeniably capable of demanding our attention as they have in the past.  Two steps forward and one step back is a natural rhythm to have for even the best of the best…so there’s no reason to get down about it, but even reason to battle even harder when it comes to the future ahead.  Make no mistake and don’t get it twisted – I still feel like Digital Escort has got more to offer the scene than most out there – but they shot a bit wide of the mark this time around.  It happens.  Their very best material is still ahead’em, trust the process.

Find out more about Digital Escort at their official page at Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/digitalesc

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