Track of the Day: The Human Man - 'White Knuckle Holiday'

Marrying the sounds of pop-punk, indie and midwest emo is The Human Man and his infectious new single 'White Knuckle Holiday' — which stands as the second release from the Irish singer-songwriter.

Combining soft, yet raw vocalisations and electric, guitar-forward instrumentation, 'White Knuckle Holiday' invokes the likes of Pinegrove or American Football; drawing on chaotically expressive emotion to create a track that is unexpectedly melancholy, and beautifully nostalgic.

"The list is long with things that can go wrong," the song opens, vocals plaintive and resigned before rising into; "We're all going to die anyway" — the simple guitar strumming laying the basis for what would be a crescendo of noise. As the track progresses, electric guitar, syncopated drums and quiet whistling create what is ultimately an anthem of self-reflection; a refracting chorus of "Now I'm thinking out loud again/ what is it getting so loud for," breaking up the angst-filled verses.

In line with bedroom-pop tradition, the song is derived completely from the artist himself — who in addition to the layered, expressive vocals is responsible for designing and playing the backing instrumentation.

"'White Knuckle Holiday' is about not seeing eye to eye with yourself everyday, and still learning even though you know yourself so well," the singer explained.

"The recording came together quickly and smoothly, it was written and demoed in one day and the final track isn’t miles different from the bedroom demo I did, which I love about it… It was an extremely rewarding task getting to play every instrument (except the drums) and sing every line. To truly focus on making this song the way I wanted to make it was an amazing feeling."

The song follows The Human Man's debut single 'Forget it All,' which came out in 2021. Building on the sounds of emo, math rock and indie-pop, the singer is steadily making himself known as one to watch — bringing the sounds of 00's-indie back into the modern era with comfortably nostalgic, yet distinctly new releases.

Check out 'White Knuckle Holiday' below: