Stomp Box Choir spiral through memory on new single ‘Caught In A Flashback’

‘Caught In A Flashback’ feels like a decisive shift for Stomp Box Choir. Darker, stranger and more immersive than their earlier material, the track places Joe Stratton and Howsie on lead vocals for the first time and uses that change to push the project into more psychologically charged territory.

The song begins with a refrain that feels like the aftermath of something we haven't yet heard, immediately placing us inside a loop. And it's that sense of circularity that becomes crucial as the track develops, with the title phrase returning again and again until it starts to feel more like an intrusive thought.

Underneath, the rhythm section is deliberately heavy. Deep bass and a forceful kick give the track a 90s trip-hop pull, while the production leaves enough space around those elements for the tension to build.

But the bridge is where the song really opens up. Delay-soaked guitar pushes the arrangement into psychedelic, almost cosmic territory, breaking the earlier confinement and giving the track a sense of sudden expansion.

The shift from minor to major changes the emotional temperature without feeling overly neat or resolved. Here, the synths widen, the refrain softens, and the track moves from unease towards something more accepting by its end.

‘Caught In A Flashback’ is atmospheric, inventive and quietly unsettling. Throughout its runtime, Stomp Box Choir use repetition, contrast and texture to turn the past into something vivid enough to feel present all over again.