At first glance, everything about the new song from New York indie rockers Free Time screams “not for commoners”; the name “Esoteric Tizz” sounds like something heady and daunting (it’s even got “esoteric” in the name!). What’s more, the band’s name is Free Time, which implies that they constantly play in some sort of unhinged, free-flowing time signature that requires a master’s degree in jazz theory to even begin to comprehend. And while the lyrics are certainly a bit less grounded than most, “Esoteric Tizz” is actually (and fortunately) a catchy and fun indie pop song—the kind of song that anyone can get down to.
The song starts with a dreamy, chimmy guitar solo before tumbling into a verse full of flowery imagery delivered in singer Dion Nania’s delicate singing style. From there, the band chugs along at a good clip, hitting verse, chorus, verse and a slightly more distorted guitar solo, the last of which is intro’d by a scrappy yelp. The lyrics are mostly spacey, but the chorus lines, “When I’m in school, you don’t know, yeah I’m a singer, and I play rock shows and I sing oo-oo, aa-aa, oo-oo,” suggest that the theme of song is a bit simpler than it seems.
Stream out “Esoteric Tizz” below. Free Time’s Esoteric Tizz 7” comes out Aug 19 on Underwater Peoples.
