As part of their initial foray into the “barn department” of folk music, Wake in Fright have today released “You Deserve”, a lively coalescence of complimentary sounds and textures predominantly recorded live at Wizard Tone Studios. Written in September 2023 and later recorded in June 2024, “You Deserve” is the newest single from the Adelaide-based five-piece folk outfit following the release of their second album “Touch Hands Pack Sting” earlier this year. With this latest release, the band have crafted an intricate, folk-infused composition that melds a classical foundation with the raw, unfiltered charm of a live studio performance.
Considered more “hillbilly” than their other recorded works, “You Deserve” opens with a timeless blend of acoustic guitar and violin, fusing effectively to introduce the song’s folk sound. Combined with simple-yet-deliberate rhythm and Sam Wilson’s typically pained vocal style, this single attempts to emulate the band’s live sound, tying into their collective goal of attempting to make music that creates a sense of community amongst listeners.
“A community with one very loud guy singing over everybody else, but community nonetheless.” – Sam Wilson
Wilson’s voice, paired with soft acoustic guitar strumming, creates a soundscape that is tender and pensive, laced with an underlying tension. His lyrics are straightforward, promoting the principle that one deserves the love one can give without superfluous abstraction. The mid-point of “You Deserve” introduces an interesting shift in mood. A break in the music provides a moment of pause, before the track returns with renewed vigour. The layered vocals during the chorus – “dish it out, take it in” - are reminiscent of a choir, with each voice adding depth and texture to this particularly whimsical section, in which the instruments and vocals playfully interact, producing a flurry of sound to enrich the song’s overall charm.
Left: Sam Wilson. Central: Thea Martin
The outro, a minute-long ambient sendoff comprised of light percussion, scattered violin slicing, and the subtle chimes of a Fender Rhodes, adds a final scattering of colour to the track, offering the listener a sense of closure and evoking the imagery of “the band getting sucked up into a UFO”, as described by Sam. This conclusion further captures the essence of the live recording process that the band was striving for - a sound that is sprawling, organic, and refreshingly unpolished.
Predominantly recorded live, the band endeavoured to create a communal “barnyard” sound, imitating the enthralling atmosphere of their live experience. The core instrument elements - acoustic guitar, drums, violin, bass, lap steel, and Wilson’s vocals - were recorded live in six or seven takes, with overdubs, such as the group vocals, mixed in later. Important emphasis was placed on achieving the live band feel, with Wilson embracing the role of a “goofy conductor” to make something “sprawly and unwieldy and loved for its disorganisation”. Having grown disinterested by the process of constructing tracks bit-by-bit at university, Sam felt opposed to the “Frankensteiny” method of “laying down drums, doing reference and vocals, then adding bass, then removing vocals”, and so on. This systematic approach “didn’t make sense” for the sound he wished to achieve for “You Deserve”. Rather, in recording the core instruments live, he wished to achieve the auditory aesthetic of a band playing live in a living room or a barn. In collaboratively creating this musical atmosphere, he praises Sam Lench from Wizard Tone for his instrumental role in helping the band emulate their live sound on the studio recordings.
Left to right: Jachin Mee, Luka Kilgariff-Johnson, and Allan McBean
“You Deserve” may be one of Wilson’s more lyrically straightforward songs, but it is no less impactful. The absence of abstraction in the lyrics allows the emotional weight of the song to come through unfiltered, creating a distinct connection with each listener. The final sweet stroke of this newest release from Wake in Fright is the surprise B-side, “Makin me Forget”, a quirky twominute number that stylistically feels “sillier and lyrically less straightforward” than “You Deserve”. As non-album releases, both songs offer a glimpse into the band’s evolving studio sound and hint at the direction they’ll take for future projects. In the context of Wake in Fright’s broader discography, “You Deserve” distinguishes itself as a testament to the group’s willingness to blend traditional and contemporary songwriting techniques, creating something that feels unique to themselves with their spirited barnyard-folk studio sound
