Muse dropped their brand new single, “Dig Down”, overnight and the reaction has been varied. Sounding a lot like “Madness” from The 2nd Law it has a slow, pulsating bassline – possibly from Chris Wolstenholme‘s Kitara, an assumption based purely on the similarity to “Madness” – and Matt Bellamy delivers the vocals in breathy crooner style with a video that reminds of Max Headroom. It wouldn’t be Muse without the layered vocals and harmonies that kick in for the chorus, and lyrically it follows on conceptually from both The 2nd Law and Drones.
I made the mistake of succumbing to having my first listen via a second-hand recording of a broadcast and I should know better. That’s never going to make anything sound good, no matter what. It certainly did nothing to ease my sense of disappointment. When the official drop came I donned the bass-boost headphones and after a few loops I’d changed my mind from disappointed to feeling, in my opinion, that it’s a grower. It was a relief to hear the guitar arrive just over half way in, and it will be very interesting to see how this fits in the context of an album.
Fan reaction, as mentioned earlier, is mixed – from instant love to immediate loathing, and then those of us in between who probably expected or hoped for something different, but appreciate that it’s just one song and – more often than not – Muse has a way of making their music grow on you.
Photo by Jeff Foney.
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