With Stone Deaf’s well-anticipated single “Joculator”, the atmosphere shifts; the air suddenly feels thinner, charged with static and the sweet promise of bad decisions. Coming out of Swansea, these guys Michael Pole, Benjamin Lake, and Charlie Ridgway seem intent on resurrecting the ghost of every raucous basement party you vaguely remember leaving long after you should have gone home.
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The sound doesn’t introduce itself; it collides with you. It is a gritty, distorted wall of noise anchored by a churning, staccato rhythm. Listening to the relentless, crashing percussive backbone, I was struck by a distinct mental image: a washing machine filled with heavy bricks during the spin cycle violent, dangerous, yet mesmerizingly rhythmic. Then, there is a fuzzy, high-pitched scream in the bridge that scrapes the back of the brain like the peculiar satisfaction of peeling dried glue off your fingertips. It teeters on the edge of discomfort, but you can’t stop engaging with it.
Underneath this garage rock revival sweat, there is a fascinating desperation. The song navigates the frantic geometry of social anxiety and financial inadequacy, with a protagonist who uses humor as a rusted shield. It captures that specific, cringey desire to perform to become the “joculator” just to catch someone’s eye, masking the sting of rejection with wild, indifference-feigning dance moves. With Ryan Zachariah Martin listed as a key contributor, the team has bottled the essence of a panic attack disguised as a good time.
It feels rebellious, raw, and wonderfully unpolished. Instead of mourning a failing social standing, Stone Deaf simply laughs at the absurdity of it all.
Why dwell on the impending emotional fallout when you can just scream into the fuzz?
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