Trophy Eyes Continue To Mature With New Single, 'Hurt'

'Hurt' is easily the calmest & poppiest song Trophy Eyes have released to date. 

After the well-earned success of 'Chemical Miracle', Trophy Eyes have been one of the main "it" Australian bands lately, both here and abroad.

What began on 'Everything Goes Away' EP and their debut full-length 'Mend, Move On' was fully capitalised with the solid, consistent songs of their aforementioned 2016 LP, and now the band are pushing their own musical boundaries wider with new single 'Hurt'. And I can just tell already that this new song, while as honest and as emotionally tragic as we'd all expect from the band's highly personal lyricism, is bound to create more than a few divides among their core fan base.

It's a more or less new sound for the Newcastle band, with a mid-tempo ruling the track's pace instead of their usual speedy sections and double-time parts; a stronger sense of utilising catchy hooks over mere aggression; far more intimate vocals from frontman John Floreani (whose vocals only continue to improve with each new release); and is overall a more 'rock' sound than the band's usual melodic punk and hardcore stylings. Yet it's also not the same kind of anthemic tune as the banging 'Chlorine' was nor is it the Basement-Citizen-worship of a song like 'Breathe You In'; it's somewhere in-between, hinting at the new direction we'll see from Trophy Eyes very soon.

In a PR statement sent out today by UNFD and Hopeless Records, Floreani said of 'Hurt' that it was the most natural songwriting process he has ever experienced in his life, saying:

"It was truly the first time I could say how I really feel in a song. Being able to portray the emotion, no matter the cost, has been a luxury for me of late and has been nurtured since I wrote my first Trophy Eyes song - holding back less and less with every release. With that, the musical accompaniment came naturally as well, as an almost cheery feel to an otherwise tragic song. I believe that was because of the freedom I felt when writing it. In many cases, this is the song Trophy Eyes has always been trying to write and, with the experimentation of Chemical Miracle opening doors for us in songwriting, we were finally able to express ourselves naturally and honestly."

The singer also added had the idea for the song's chorus mid-shower and "ran from my shower, covered in suds, and in nothing but a towel to record the idea for the chorus into my phone with my mouth. The rest of the song just wrote itself."

While I never buy the whole "this is the sound we've always wanted/needed" argument that bands put forward whenever they have a new song or album coming out, this band's next album will no doubt be that of a poppier, lighter sound.

Take a listen to 'Hurt' below to find out whether you loathe it, love it, or are completely indifferent to it. Personally, like being stuck doing 60 in an 80 zone, I don't mind it.