dUNETX – ‘Icon’

The eternal dream. Pursuing it looks naff. But it lurks inside. It guides. It prods. It doesn’t let you go. But it’s ephemeral enough that it can’t lead. Some let it overwhelm them. Some of them end up dead. Some who could achieve it never manage to harness its energy, choosing a path less perilous.

Spend some time watching dUNETX mainman Chris Sacco on stage and you know it’s in there. But what he does with this song is staddle that line between embracing it and observing it from a safe distance. Musically, it gets on a mid-tempo rail and rides. But the lyrics flip back and forth between the simultaneously personal and universal (rolling up on that special someone) and the more rarified air of megalomania (closing your eyes and coming undone)

dUNETX has always worn its influences on its sleeve and this particular number draws from the Smashing Pumpkins end of the band’s pool. Both guitars and vocals drone while rubbing your eardrums. But they also build with enough wiggle to move things forward, keeping the listener waiting for the next bend. Surely something has to give.

Guitar Solo One yields. Guitar Solo Two builds. And then reality breaks. Icon, that’s the way it has to be. You got your rock star type clothes on. Where’d you get those threads? You used to be Jimi Hendrix? Or was that the Doors?