In Review: Chappaqua Wrestling - ''The Rift'

Those who are always on the lookout for compelling new music with meaningful content and social relevance will listen to Chappaqua Wrestling’s new single ‘The Rift’ and rub their hands together with glee. Insightful lyrics are accompanied by an irresistible guitar riff, creating some of the Brighton-based band’s best work yet. It’s a song that begs to be played loudly. If you’re in a car, crank the volume. If you’ve got headphones on, definitely crank the volume. Even if you’re at your nan’s house for Sunday tea, crank it. She’ll dig it.

Led by two best pals Charlie Woods and Jake Mac, Chappaqua Wrestling switched lanes slightly from their previous single ‘Football’, which was a worthy brick in the foundations of an ambitious fledgling indie rock band. While not worlds apart, ‘The Rift’ is more of a grungy ode to the shoe-gazing subgenre; it’s a song My Bloody Valentine would be proud of and provides the listener with an opportunity to reflect on the world in a powerful bubble of melancholia.  

The song arc is centred around the main guitar riff, and is accompanied by sharp, incisive vocals that draw inspiration from Peter Bysshe Shelley's poem The Masque of Anarchy, written in 1819 after the Peterloo massacre in Manchester. 

On their new single’s themes and influences, vocalist Charlie Woods states: “‘The Rift’ is a track about conflict, acknowledging the increasing divisions within society, and calling out those that turn a blind eye. It’s an old talisman for suppressed voices in this country, and some of its verses still clearly resonate today."

'The Rift' is out now via Good Flavours.