If John Lydon came from the Midlands instead of North London and began making music in the 2020s instead of the 1970s, I would wager a fair bet that Public Image Limited would have pulled something very similar to Death Of The High Street’s latest, ‘Synergy’, out of the bag.
Frontman Scott Baxter is in menacingly cutting mode as he flagellates joe public, popstars, politicians, bankers, social media, misanthropy and himself. Mainly himself. What’s the answer, then? “Synergy – the combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately” (cambridge dictionary and the band’s instagram).
Baxter’s crushingly honest lyrics are given a slow-building bass and drum backdrop by the rest of the DOTHs boys before the punk rock guitars slam in and the singer succumbs to fully channelling the aforementioned Pistols frontman’s snarls and pissed off pronunciation as he proclaims the victorious eureka-moment cry: “My band’s better than me – that’s syner-gyyyy-eyyyy-eyyyyy-eyyyyyy”.
‘Synergy’ is Death Of The High Street’s most accomplished single since debut ‘Exit’ was released in August of last year. Give it a listen on the Spotify link below: