REVIEW: Arliston - “What Did I Think Would Happen” Single

Arliston’s “What Did I Think Would Happen” opens the band’s upcoming album ‘Disappointment Machine’ (out January 2025) with a haunting honesty, one that strikes deep, mirroring that first, silent pang of heartbreak— a memory as raw as it is tender. It’s a track that unfolds slowly, like the intimate disclosure of a diary page, each note and lyric carrying the bittersweet weight of expectation unmet.

The song opens with a delicate mechanical hum, a nod to the analog days of VHS tapes, and feels like watching a memory that’s a bit too painful to relive. A gentle piano riff weaves through the background, capturing the fragile hope before heartbreak strikes, as though the notes themselves are holding their breath. The restraint here is palpable; every sound feels intentional, each pause a gentle reminder of vulnerability.

Jack Ratcliffe’s lyrics, whispering yet forceful, are a powerful representation of the confusion that comes with love's first disillusionment. His falsetto breaks against a deeper register, as if wrestling with itself - one voice yearning, another aching to forget. And amidst these vocal layers, there’s the impression of scenes flashing by: fleeting moments that haunt and scatter like old photographs tossed into the wind. That tension between what was hoped for and the stark reality leaves listeners with that inevitable question lingering in their minds: “What did I think would happen?”

With this track, Jack and George create a sense of immediacy. For those listening, it’s a chance to feel both seen and understood, to wear their own scars alongside the band’s, before diving deeper into the stories that Disappointment Machine promises to tell.

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