Canadian emo band Arm’s Length has released their newest single, “You Ominously End,” an offering from their upcoming sophomore album, There’s A Whole World Out There, due out May 16. Confronting the isolating experience of dealing with mental illness, the song sees the band explore a bit of a different sound. Adding a folk-punk vibe with the incorporation of a banjo, the result is unexpected, but the band has pulled it off flawlessly.
A soft banjo-led intro ushers us into a more urgent energy led by chaotic guitars and drums for the first verse. Allen Steinberg’s vocal delivery brings us further into the emotion with heartbreakingly detailed lyrics. The first chorus confronts a suicide attempt with lines like “confirmed you can’t do nothing right / like you couldn’t even die / if you tried” delivered with passion and desperation.
The country-folk feel becomes more prominent throughout the second verse, with vocal harmonies moving quickly over the plucked instrumentation as the song builds toward the second chorus. The chaos within the soundscape perfectly represents the inner struggles that are detailed by the lyrics, creating an emotional roller coaster ride. The culmination of the song is in the bridge, with heavy instrumental breakdowns underneath intensely passionate harsh vocals, underscoring the desperation and pain found throughout the track.
Immediately after the song’s most intense moment, the band strips it back down again to a slowly plucked banjo underneath soft vocals to carry us out. The contrast between the power of the bridge and the eerie calm of the final seconds underlines the emotions expressed throughout the track even more, with the ending lyrics being “when I check in / it’s like I’m feeling for a pulse.”
“You Ominously End” is accompanied by a music video that cuts back and forth between the band playing the song inside a trailer and snippets of a home video that becomes increasingly more chaotic and desperate as the song goes on.
If you like this track, be sure to check out their next album, There’s A Whole World Out There, releasing on May 16. The band will be on their headlining tour in support of their album during the release, heading out on the road starting May 2, before performing a few special album release shows in June. Tickets for all upcoming dates are available here.
