Jake Bugg’s Rabbit Hole’ is a grimy, salacious, grunge-infused number that’s up to no good. Right from the get-go, the sharp chords on the electric guitar will make you feel like there’s trouble in the air.

The notes come in hot and fast, and the accompanying drum arrangement is oozing with charisma and chaos. The music scene nowadays is rife with electropop features and bubblegum-pop ditties so when you do land on something that’s old-school, infectious and rugged, you can’t help but be drawn into the commotion. Jake Bugg’s voice is the perfect vehicle for such a raucous composition. It’s teeming with recklessness and attitude, so the electric guitar meshes perfectly with it. The lyrics seem to hint at alcohol or drug-fuelled hallucinations that may be creating visions of a former lover in Bugg’s head, but what’s so intoxication about the tune is that the lyrics are just mysterious enough to keep you in the loop. 

The riff on the electric guitar does let up in the pre-chorus but only for Bugg’s voice to amplify and lose itself in a numbing haze. And then the guitar chords make a comeback in the chorus again, but this time with ramped-up percussion and the bass. It’s a winning romp through the nostalgic era of grunge and hard-punk, something that practically defined British musical culture in the nineties. It’s ultimately refreshing to see a young artist still explore those classic sounds in this contemporary scene. The instrumentation remains as fresh and enticing as ever, and Bugg’s boldness is omnipresent. The young artist has already racked up four studio albums but he hasn’t officially come out with one since 2017. Here’s hoping that this single is worthy of headlining a new album on its own because it perfectly represents the heaps and strides the young artist has made in finetuning his sound. It’s bursting with charm, passion, and just the right amount of sexiness. 

Speaking on how he’s been spending lockdown, Bugg said, “I’ve got music to keep me going and I’ve just been focused on that and writing every day. Music is one of the few things we have in lockdown that can keep us calm when we are feeling down, but also uplift us and dig into those emotions I think.” 

 Singer-songwriter       Indie-rock 

Author: Shaoni Das

Shaoni Das is a writer/editor currently based in Edmonton, Canada. She remains eager to inspect how the changing culture of music impacts upon the greater world.