The Wandering Endorphin is a Chicagoan artist who is making some awesome 90s alternative rock that sounds authentic, vulnerable, and fresh. With great songwriting and performances, his new single “You’re Not Unknown” is a strong tune about keeping hope during tough times.
The introduction begins with a fading distant drum sound. The drums then are accompanied by two guitar tracks as one plays a nice rhythm with the bass and the other pans as a melodic emotive riff. The Wandering Endorphin introduces the lead vocals that are a mix of intimate and grunge, while maintaining a delicacy that doesn’t require shouting for its charisma.
The song transitions into a hook that introduces synthesizers that wear a timbre of the 80s. The rhythm picks up in the second verse as lyrics of offering help to take on the world during rough times are delivered. The composition is very strong in finding areas to change the dynamics ever slightly so the energy feels different from section to section. The mix is also very strong during the hook when the song gets its busiest, making sure no frequencies are being masked.
The third verse slows down the drum rhythm, allowing the record to breathe. Lyrics of healing feel nurturing as the song then goes into a cool production choice of phasing and filtering all the sounds before arriving at a pre-chorus. The song does run close to six minutes but there’s a nice instrumental breakdown that is broken down into two sections. This allows the song to never feel too long. The instrumental break is both fun and emotive. Bending notes, with a change of drum rhythms and it even plays with expectations as you assume the vocal chorus will return, but the song concludes completely being instrumental.
For fans of rock music that captures moods like Nirvana and Radiohead, but also maintains its own unique personality both with vocals and musically, this one’s for you.
Written by Jon Kagan
FOLLOW THE WANDERING ENDORPHIN:
