Tash Hagz is piling on the rip-roar rock thunder in his new single “Dependent On,” and no matter what volume at which you’re listening to the track’s first ten seconds, it’s almost guaranteed to quake the floor beneath your speakers on the strength of the riffing alone. The drums crash into each other without fail, sending shockwaves through the rest of the track and echoing into the melodic instrumentation. Though the time between our pressing play and meeting the first couple of lines from Tash Hagz is relatively short, it’s enough to set up the tone for every bit of musical might that will come in the following three and a half minutes. The phrase ‘they don’t make them like this anymore’ comes to mind, but deeming “Dependent On” old school just doesn’t seem fair to the ambitions of its star.
This song’s lyrical fabric is rather simplistic, allowing for the instrumental warring to take over the main role of communicating emotion to the audience. Tash Hagz never forces us to put our focus on one element over another in the mix, which inevitably lets everything run together and eventually form an anxious center from which we can learn everything we need to know about his artistry. The intensity plays out like a declaration of identity, and whether this was the intention of my man or not, “Dependent On” feels more and more like something he crafted to disclose an uncompromising love for the material itself. Cosmetically it’s a party anthem, but poetically it’s something much more profound.
I usually don’t like arrangements as stacked as this one is, but for whatever reason Tash Hagz makes it work for him really well in this single. He thrives in a setting that would make a lot of his peers so overpowered we likely wouldn’t be able to appreciate any of the talents they offer in a performance, and while I think he has room to push even harder in future releases, I like that he didn’t try to bite off more than he can chew at this point in “Dependent On.” He’s got the chops to lay down some incredibly potent music, and if this could serve as the blueprint for his success, I don’t see why he shouldn’t utilize it as much as possible.
“Dependent On” shows us a Tash Hagz who is upholding the rich history of English rock n’ roll in a way that I wish others would replicate in their own work, and though he remains a deep underground rising star, the substance of this single indicates he’s going to outgrow his insular scene a lot sooner than later. Live music making a comeback is going to assist in giving his powerful riffs the right venue in which to win our hearts, but even if he chooses to remain in the studio for the time being – honing his craft and developing an independent persona – I’m fairly sure this isn’t going to be the last time he’s granted high marks from a critic like myself.
Jodi Marxbury