Los Angeles outfit Bad Wave have become regulars here at TMR, with their mind-bendingly good synth-pop tracks transporting us into sci-fi fiction (‘Daniel’) or bringing us back to reality with political satire (‘Time To Get Lost’). Now Patrick Hart and Tucker Tota have taken an inward looking turn for new single ‘Good Son’. It’s particularly apt in the wake of Father’s Day that these sons would expose their anxiety and self-doubt over meeting the familial responsibility. The painfully honest lyrics of a trier - “I’m trying so hard to be a good son, / I’m trying so hard, / but I’m failing” - is launched into stratospheric territories by the propulsion of the band’s psychedelic synth-rock instrumentation. It suggests an escape, a rocket fuel burst of sound to take this son out of reality, although with the blunt ending, there’s a sense of crashing back down to earth. - Hannah Thacker