“the perfect intersection of poignant songwriting and soaring instrumentals” – Notion

“captivating soundscapes and thought-provoking lyrics” – Wonderland

“highly affecting” – Clash

“Launching into a new era” – Noctis Magazine

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‘What Did I Think Would Happen’ is the opening track to Arliston’s forthcoming album, Disappointment Machine.

In an intimate and cautious fashion, it sets out the record’s narrative of unrequited love. Listeners will note the initial clicks and whirs that replicate the experience of pushing a VHS tape in the VCR, and this track acts like a pre-credits opening scene in a James Bond film where someone gets killed. It all ends in disaster and the audience becomes invested in finding out where it all went wrong.

This is why the song, although wrapped in analog warmth and guided by a repeating piano melody, is so emotionally raw. It brings to mind the idiom of wearing your heart on your sleeve, except this heart is bruised and scarred, offered with a guarded uncertainty that it won’t be hurt again. We all wear these scars in some manner, it just so happens that those of the band’s songwriter Jack Ratcliffe come closer to the surface throughout this track, and by extension the album as a whole.

“This is one of my favourite songs on the album. We captured something that was very raw and at the same time feels gentle and intimate. It’s one of the hardest things to do: capture a strong emotion without screaming and shouting. But, with this one we managed to very lightly hold this poignant thing in the palm of the hand and express it with not much more than a whisper,” Jack shares.

The immediacy of the emotions in ‘What Did I Think Would Happen’ is also because a lot of what you’ll hear is first-take ideas. In this sense, Arliston is keen to capture the emotion that most naturally flows out. Therefore, the challenge lies in retaining that spontaneity throughout the production process.

As George summarises, “This song is an exercise in restraint, we tried adding lots of production, some of which stayed in as resampled. It was about finding the balance. It’s such an intimate song that we didn’t want to break that spell too frivolously.”

The result of all this careful attention to detail can be heard in the way that the song builds in a strangely discordant manner, with wheezing brass and clamouring piano. The poignant lyrics flicker between the despondent chorus and verses that offer snapshots of different scenes from that night. These images are deployed by the dramatic contrast of Jack’s piercing falsetto against his lower register.

In the end, all that intense feeling subsides into a heart-rending silence; the closing of a first scene before the rest of the story unfolds.

Disappointment Machine album is due for release January 2024.

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