Chastity examines a brutally honest mental health struggle with new single ‘Offing’. A project founded in Ontario, Canada by Brandon Williams, Chastity is described as “…for the kids, the headbangers, the freaks.” Developing upon a heavy, traditional suburban emo sound, the band has been a voice for the darker corners of the psyche. ‘Offing’ is their first release since 2022 record Suffer Summer, the first single from their forthcoming self-titled album, which hurtles through emo, hardcore and shoegaze to climb from desperation to resolution. ‘Offing’ is a forthrightly vulnerable first single that places listeners directly within Williams’ desperate state. ‘It was often / I’d think of offing myself,’ are the first lines to open the track, showing that Williams is not shying away from sharing his thoughts exactly as they are. Though weighty in lyricism, there is no frantic noise to the instrumentation. It takes after small-town emo riffs with a slight country twinge on close-knit guitars, warm bass notes thrumming beneath resonant percussion. Navigating confusing, dismal feelings of suicidal ideation, Williams is expressive in his fear and uncertainty, a sense of melancholy in his words. The instrumentation picks up throughout the internal back and forth, mellowing out at a remorseful realisation: ‘The more I pick at the scab / The more I’m sick at how it started.’ From this point the song becomes anthemic, echoing ‘if you got approval, I want it!’, a dire cry for acceptance. As the first taste of new music from Chastity in a couple of years, ‘Offing’ is an intense look at what to expect from the new record. As it intends to be Williams’ non-fiction accounts, the new track immediately sets us up to see his raw, sensitive ascent from emotional desolation to ultimately finding power and hope. Chastity is due on 13th September via Deathwish (US), Dine Alone (Canada) and Big Scary Monsters (UK/IE). -Kayla Sandiford