By Phil Scarisbrick

Acoustic guitar finger picks that circle around a palm-muted bass groove, and a hushed baritone snatching the tail end of every beat – before lifting for an achingly gorgeous chorus hook. It feels like familiar territory for fans of Berninger’s ‘day job’, but there is something about this project that makes it obvious that it is all about the frontman.

Co-written with Lost Lander, One More Second seems to revel in a strange kind of awkwardness that is as engaging as it is odd. A Hammond organ whistles in the background of the second verse and chorus section before disappearing and reappearing intertmittently. A simple piano part goes from sitting comfortably in the mix to throwing oft-kilter and unmelodic stabs over the top of a chaotic bridge. The flow of the dynamic also has a sense of chaos about it – with each drop out feeling, well, to use that word again – awkward. When it all comes together though, it is really rather wonderful, and features Berninger’s knack for creating killer lyrics that break your heart – ‘Smoke’s in our eyes or in the distance/Either way, we’re gonna miss it/When it’s gone.‘

Featuring Gail Ann Dorsey and Berninger’s El Vy bandmate, Brent Knopf, and produced by Booker T. Jones, it is our third taste of his forthcoming debut solo album, Serpentine Prison. You can hear the full album on 2nd October through Book Records in association with Concord Records.

Check out One More Second, alongside all our other favourite new music released this week, on our New Music Recommendations playlist here.

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