Continuing a very healthy tradition of outshining their previous release with something even more irresistible and creatively mouth-watering, Scotland based indie rockers Ded Rabbit uncage their new single Scarlet Cardigan. It is a song which merges wonderfully raw textures with intricately inventive hooks, contagious energy with rousing vocal drama, and uniting it all in another exhilarating bellow. Ded Rabbit is a band walking the precipice of national exposure, something very easy to say after Scarlet Cardigan.
Ded Rabbit consists of four Yorkshire brothers, Eugene, Fergus, Eoin, and Donal Gaine, who moved to the Highlands in the mid-nineties, subsequently heading to Edinburgh for their studies and the moment where, in their words, that they “began taking music more seriously.” Since then as Ded Rabbit, the foursome has released a trio of increasingly acclaimed EPs, all recorded at Rocket Science Studios (Texas, Belle And Sebastian, Dougie MacLean) and earned a potent live reputation with a presence taking in shows with the likes of The 1975 and Man Made, their own headlining gigs, and festival spots at Rough Beats, Liverpool Sound City, and T In The Park where they headlined the T Break stage this year. Drawing on inspirations from bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Queens Of The Stone Age, Fugazi, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Gang Of Four, Interpol, The Cribs, The Libertines and many more, the band’s EPs have been a just as magnetic affair, Wash Away and Wake Up In A Dream stirring up keen attention previously whilst the recently released Moving In Slow Motion has pushed even keener spotlights their way. As suggested earlier, their new release unleashes another rousing and masterful step forward in the sound and adventure of the band, Scarlet Cardigan which is the lead song from the last EP, setting a new dynamic marker.
The single instantly reveals a scuzzier air to the band’s sound, something explored more upon Moving In Slow Motion whilst also pushing the band’s cleaner melodic explorations. Vocals and hefty beats are the first union alongside slim but enticing guitar which in turn expands with melodic lures as the song itself blossoms into bolder incitement, a bulbous bass riff just whetting the appetite all on its own. The spicery of eighties new wave/post punk is at its strongest yet in the Ded Rabbit sound in Scarlet Cardigan but woven into something certainly with a whiff of Arctic Monkeys/The Cribs to it, but thrillingly original to the band. Raising crescendos of energy for its chorus and volatile calm for its agitated verse built passages, the track enthrals with unpredictability and breath-taking enterprise from start to finish.
Like a mix of Asylums, The Libertines, and The Woodentops, with at times essences of Josef K too, the free to download Scarlet Cardigan is another enslaving slice of indie rock ‘n’ roll from Ded Rabbit and another thick suggestion that the band ready to take the UK indie scene by storm.
Scarlet Cardigan is available now.
The Ringmaster Review 12/08/2015
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The RingMaster Review 
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