Spinning out of the silence with a proud strut, Mateo Briscoe’s anthemic single “Insane” kicks into gear on the whim of a beat that can induce chills on the spot no matter how many times you’ve heard the song. Briscoe himself weaves his words in between the explosive bursts of percussion, every lyric espousing a heartwarming harmony and a piece of the larger narrative in “Insane” that is a little more emotionally charged than the one that came before it. The bassline creeps its way into the master mix, but it isn’t until we hear the starring guitar strings that we feel like we’re in the same groove with our singer, who is giving up one amazing melodic burst of sunshine in this latest unvarnished single.
The verses are hopeful in “Insane,” and better yet, they lack the saccharinity that so many pop singers with a cause are plagued with in the studio. Briscoe positions himself as a simple man living in an overcomplicated world in this song, and instead of talking down to us or preaching about how we’re supposed to correct all of the ills that we witness every day in society, he relates to us as peer to peer level, dismissing self-serving dialogue and ego stroking altogether. None of his lyrics sound even remotely forced, and in an era that has been rife with far too many pretenders and not enough genuine substance, to say that the poetic content in “Insane” is a diamond in the rough might be a bit of an understatement.
This is a pretty cut-and-dry folk song that just so happens to be sung by one of the sexiest singers in the underground today, and I like the fact that Mateo Briscoe didn’t overthink the construction of this track at all. He put two essential concepts together and peppered in some of his unique style – he leaves a dash of accustomed tonality where it belongs, and doesn’t try to change a proven formula’s most important elements. Briscoe isn’t trying to challenge the way that we listen to good music in “Insane;” contrarily, he wants to remind us of what the genre is capable of doing when it’s delivered without any commercial filtration at all.
“Insane” concludes much in the same way that it starts, but its abrupt finish doesn’t leave listeners feeling like this fleeting new single was missing something. I cannot wait to hear a full-length album from Mateo Briscoe, and hopefully, this song is only a taste of what his next extended recording session is going to produce. Briscoe is hardly a household name outside of his storied scene, but I’m not convinced that his work can’t make it in the modern indie market. To some extent, “Insane” is his most polished sound so far, and it would not surprise me in the least if it were to make it into steady rotation on your FM dial this spring. It’s got the instrumental cosmetics that pop fanatics live for while also retaining all of its divine soul through Briscoe’s intrepid lyrical lashings.
