‘Numb’ – Twelve Days In June: A Brooding Slab Of Angst-Ridden ’90s Alternative-Rock
Hailing from Schenectady, near Albany New York, Twelve Days In June, give us an insight into their, or rather his, upcoming fourth studio album, with ‘Numb’; a brooding slab of nostalgia, that will certainly appeal to those of us from Gen X and Millennials alike.
‘Numb’ is a huge, drop-D tuned, dynamic shifting beast of a song. Built around a simple punchy staccato bass progression from D to G with an added F for bridge and chorus. This is an exercise in ‘less is more’. Very much more. In fact, breaking it down to its basic form we have verse, chorus and mid-section, punctuated by heavily distorted bridges from G to F. These sound immense as both bass and guitar double up to earth-shaking effect. It’s simple, yes. The best songs often are; it’s about what you do within the confines of this that matters. This is where Twelve Days In June excel.
Sparsely populated verses are punctuated by atmospheric guitars and the dynamic shifts are utilised and teased liberally, enabling verses to be split and the chorus to seamlessly flow. The layering and progression of the guitars is exceptional – octaves, controlled feedback, unison bends, lead fragments. It’s all there. Unobtrusive. Sitting beautifully within a 5-minute window; an exercise in studio mastery and simplistic, yet profoundly nuanced song-writing. I can’t hide my enthusiasm, when talking about this song. It’s not flash, pretentious or deliberately challenging. It’s a simple song about dealing with a break-up. Relatable, not obscure. No metaphor’s, just raw emotion and that’s fine. It all fits together with minimal fuss, and achieves exactly what it sets out to.
Vocally, Dave Hulegaard (essentially he is Twelve Days In June!) lays somewhere between Dave Gahan, Daniel Johns and Christopher Hall, with elements of the phrasing of Maynard James Keenan. It’s a voice easy on the ears, measured, without ever breaking its tethers. It’s good. It works. And that can be extended to everything Twelve Day In June does; they’re a throwback, but a damn good throwback. Back to when rock and by extension, alternative-rock, ruled the airwaves. Before the musical quagmire, that was the turn of the century, when rock somehow lost is way, its identity and its angst-ridden message, bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden et a la perfectly captured the descension of the youth; the world was changing, attitudes were changing and they were at the zeitgeist of that change.
Twelve Days In June may not be the catalyst for change, but they remind us that rock was once important. Songwriters were important. There was craft. There was talent. There was an indomitable spirit that couldn’t be silenced. It’s gratifying to know that that still exists in one form or another. ‘Numb’, is a great song and if you like your rock with a ’90s feel, you’re going to love it. It’s big, angsty and oh so well produced. I mean verging on perfection ‘well produced’. I hope it finds an audience, gets some good rotation on playlists and radio, it absolutely deserves it. Give. Them. A. Listen. Please!
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