Oooooohh, nicely nasty! Hurricanes rugby territory-spanning Pool House returns for 2024 with their new single Draw The Line, and it’s what I like to describe as a rattlesnake of a number. Sass, sneer, danger and power. It’s a term I learned from Brandon Flowers, of all people. There is a lot I can say about this song, and I am going to now.

The guys say they aimed for something that was a nod to the surf-rock sound of the late 60s and early 70s. Well, while remaining a 2024 sounding release thanks to the talents of Josh Strand and Jonny Paul at Parachute, with the mastering done across the other side of the football at London’s Metropolis Studios – they did it. The song contains an admirable sprinkling of atmos chords (your minors and sevenths) and is balanced beautifully.

We’ve got some really groovy guitar playing with a rhythm guitar that puts me in mind of the likes of Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane or The Byrds (not the Dylan cover!), and has a swirly lead guitar that rings of e-Bow (but might not be, I’m getting old after all) to add that psychedelia to the lead tools. The bass is very warm and sits quite middly in the mix, so you can hear it nicely but it doesn’t intrude. It, and the nicely tempered drums, do their job expertly, to be frank (I still want a silverback Gorilla named Frank to come and live in my garden), in that they deliver the song on rails: smooth and sharply in time. The rhythm guitar turns from some chord strums to a nice, fuzzy yet not distorted riff – and this is where that surf-rock homage really kicks in. I get the vibe of some album tracks from one of my favourite bands of all time, America. When the acoustic guitars slide gently into some of that bluesy riffing – oddly reminiscent, also, in tone and composition to the B52s Rock Lobster. I know that was later in the 70s, but I’m satisfied with the term of reference for you to get where I’m going.

Vocally this also puts me in mind of America’s Gerry Beckley. He’s the one who sang Sister Golden Hair and You Can Do Magic (the one who did Horse, Ventura Highway and Tin Man etc. is his buddy Dewey Bunnell, in case you wondered). There’s a similar timbre, although our chap from Pool House has a more tenor-orientated delivery than Beckley.

The song is about a dude the band members met and witnessed a Queenstown lad (shout out to the burgers!) at a flat party who did the entire town proud with his level of partying without stop. Where does he “draw the line”? I see what they did there. The song has a great, intense, deeply late 60s psych-surf rock groove, with really good, flowing melodic verses and a memorable chorus that’s going to go down so well live. This is an absolute MUST for any house party, boat party, wedding, birthday, whatever you can think of so DJs get a downloadin’ onto your playlists now. I am getting visions of that party in Austin Powers when he gets accosted by Robyn Swallows (so what is it darling?…), because this song really did hit the mark it was aiming for and would be a shoo-in for the soundtrack to that party.

No vid, but who cares when the music is this damn good? Get it on the Spotify now! I reviewed their previous single Another Day, which has seen considerable airing and chart placing. I have no doubt this will follow suit. Another good thing is that while retaining their identity (as in, one will know this is Pool House) they have managed to release a single completely unlike the previous one yet easily on a par with it. I really dig this band – and their singles go on my private Spotify playlist as well as the Flash-Trax one.

Get grooving, you fey cats. Dennis Wilson‘s at the partay and he’s shoutin’ another round.