Monotonous piano notes mix with rainy sounds coming from the speakers. It sounds bored, uninspired, searching. Then, a liberating beat sets in, and the lyrics swing open the doors to possibilities:
Try it out
Don’t be afraid
Nobody’s watching
You’re not too late
Born from a moment of uncertainty at 2 am, Australian artist Vinnie Barbaro, known by his stage name DIVEBAR YOUTH, chose to trust his instincts in a vibrant swirl of creativity. Pulsating like the heartbeat of urban nightlife, How You Doing? celebrates the courage to plunge into uncertainty, to embrace the unplanned and imperfect.
The song crackles with a raw energy that grips the senses, buzzing with a dark intensity as it slices through the concrete landscape with cutting chainsaw guitars. In How You Doing?, the essence of noise rock erupts, roaring with confidence while a relentless post-punk beat reverberates through the air, creating a sonic experience that is both exhilarating and deeply immersive. A track embodying the spirit of the city after dark, where unpredictability reigns and the thrill of the moment waits to be seized.
How You Doing? announces DIVEBAR YOUTH’s upcoming EP, Modern Expectations, which shall see the light of day on 21 November. Created in a Melbourne rooftop studio, a converted train carriage owned by Andrei Eremin (Tones and I, Chet Faker, Hiatus Kaiyote), which became Barbaro’s creative home base. Barbaro says about the recording process:
I had just returned from a series of shows, but in the studio I suddenly questioned every idea. I was caught in a loop of indecision, always waiting for the “right moment” to continue. One night in the rooftop studio in Melbourne, as the city vibrated below me and the bass rose from the bars, I felt myself back in the hustle and bustle of tour life.
I wanted to capture that very pulse, so I started building drums that sound like the heartbeat of the city at 2 am—with no plan, no filter. At some point, I stopped searching for perfection and started following my feelings.
Mixed and mastered by Vinnie Barbaro himself, How You Doing? is also an expression of total artistic control, resulting in the song’s raw and immediate nature. It’s not particularly polished, the sudden transitions are choppy, and it ends even more abruptly. But it is also this unfiltered essence that facilitates an emotional experience and makes the sound bolder compared to previous tracks.
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