The Civil Wars do dark very well, and they supply that in abundance on
their latest single, 'The One That Got Away'. After a mini-hiatus and
cancelled tour dates last year citing ‘irreconcilable differences’, luckily
that didn’t stop the duo making new music. With haunting, gently strummed
electric guitar, suspense-filled mandolin, and a subtle, unassuming yet catchy
guitar hook, this song toes the line between heavy and the ‘less is more’
approach.

However, it isn’t until you really listen to the song that
you really class parts of it as heavy. The duo has largely stuck to their
stripped-back, folky roots, and Joy’s light, wavery vocals are always the icing
on the cake. Juxtaposing the sweet twang of a dobro with a chorus melody worthy
of a big rock song, it subverts what we expect, yet builds with each repetition
of the refrain. Finally, in the third chorus, we are treated to more of a rock
out, but they still hold back. I suspect they do not want to move from their
current musical positioning, although I can imagine they’d do rockier songs
exceptionally well, and I hope to hear more of that from the new album.

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