The first single off Freight, “Me,” is a bit of fresh northern air, raw, honest, and brimming with energy. The Warrington indie upstarts have invented their own reason to exist. And it all began with a mic, a promise, and a band of friends.
“Me” is Freight’s opening salvo to the world, a seething little bundle of driving guitar riffs, young-people-fuck-you-attitude, and a vocal style that falls on you like a note passed in the back of a classroom, urgent, a little careless, and deeply intimate. Frontman Luka Gunes, who formed the band after a spur-of-the-moment open mic performance, sustains the song’s emotional power with a voice that’s not aiming for perfect, but for truth. And that’s exactly the charm.
The story behind Freight is magnetic in a way that makes exports and the history of shipping seem seductive and compelling. No manager, no big marketing scheme, just a bunch of childhood buddies who were told they had a shot at playing at a local festival (Pickfest) if they could form a band in time. That DIY ethos extends to the song itself. It’s a messy one in the best sort of way: Energetic, unapologetic, and filled with the kind of wide-eyed ambition that only comes at the start of something special.
On a sonic level, “Me” has heavy reference to indie rock’s more saccharine moments, without aping it, so much as shaping it. The song builds with stacked guitar tones and a rhythm section that doesn’t merely mark time, but rather aggressively pushes it forward. It’s a song designed to be screamed back at you from the mud at a festival, arms aloft, sweat flying.
Freight may be new, but they’re not cautious. “Me” shows that sometimes, the best bands are the result of saying yes before you are ready. And with the arrival of this debut, they’ve introduced themselves not just as a band, but as a story itself in motion.
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