“Part the tide,” dares Mish Barber-Way of White Lung on “Below,” a ferocious pop song from the longtime hardcore band. Indeed, the sea is splitting for White Lung. “Below,” off the upcoming Paradise, is unlike anything we’ve ever heard from them. In place of the barreling punk rock that Barber-Way and co. have made their name on, “Below” is shiny, soaring goth-pop, a song the singer says is “about the preservation of glamour and beauty.” “Wash over mine,” Barber-Way sings in a caustic stir. “Empty pride/ I’ll be fine when I go under.”
If this is White Lung “going under,” they’ve clearly landed in the coolest spot of hell. Their version of “pop” naturally comes with some fire, and that’s what makes the band’s most undeniable shift towards melody so compelling. Its silvery rail and pounding drive carries along a gorgeous smolder that highlights Barber-Way’s lyrical prowess, instead of hurling it at you with breakneck speed. When her lyrics recall “a broken crystal carcass [that] reflects in all the light,” the newfound shimmer aims to sting, like something so bright it makes you wince.
