In an interesting play on musical contrasts, Alice Glass’ newest single, ‘FAIR GAME’, finds a way to both soothe and hype the listener all at the same time.

As the song opens, it’s obvious where the song is going to go, or at least that’s what the listener is led to believe. The EDM influences in the intro sets the tone wonderfully, but the first play on those expectations come with the introduction of the vocals. Especially at the beginning of the song, the vocals are delivered more in a spoken-word delivery, far too loose in rhythm to be considered rap. With the vocals, however, the drive kicks in. It almost sounds like the energy has already been capped, but the energy in the verse is only a taste of what’s to come. The sinister force of the song is really put in full showcase in the chorus with the high-pitched melody sung through a heavy layer of distortion. The contrast between the soft, soothing spoken-word performance and the screechy melodies makes the song sound all the creepier, in the best way possible. Nothing about this song feels comfortable, truly making the listener feel like they’re trapped in a claustrophobic night-club. The floaty nature of the backing track, on top of the thick, deep bass and the aggressive four-on-the-floor drive of the chorus makes Fair Game one of the grooviest songs to come out this year.

The uncanny nature of the song makes it sound almost cinematic, and all the more addictive. The contrasting forces gives such a strong identity to the track, and begs the listener to listen more. The song almost plays like an intensive game of tension-and-release, teasing the rhythm to the listeners in the verses only to give that full release during the choruses. The outro cutoff of the music with only Alice Glass speaking at the end really closes the book wonderfully on the horror nature of this song, which truly makes ‘FAIR GAME’ one of the most interesting songs to come out in 2021.

Author: Nicholas Gaudet

Music producer and writer from Dieppe, Canada.