Greenwing Releases New Single: Dark

Saskatoon band Greenwing are back with a new single, Dark. Now that they’ve added new members, we take a listen to see how they’ve evolved.

Greenwing have entered a new chapter with their new single, Dark. And not just due to some lineup changes and a fresh summer to spread their wild oats. The Saskatoon band, now a 4-piece thanks to the recent addition of guitarist Anthony Allegreto, have turned the page on the pandemic by going deeper, grislier, one could even use the word darker.

“I don’t wanna die, but I long to be free,” is the hook this time around and it’s a bit of a conundrum to singer/songwriter Matt Stinn who spends most of his time on the track juggling optimism and resentment like they were chainsaws on fire. His voice cracks in the chorus like his life depends on it, and it’s right in character for a man connecting the dots between punk narcissism and humility. As this band has spread their wings on the road and gotten some mileage under them, it shows in Stinn’s vocal performance. This melody is a bit trickier to pull off, both technically and emotionally, but Stinn sells it like a frontman should. In this case, confidence signifies integrity as the tune is more vulnerable than anything on their first record, Late Bloomer.

Allegreto used the phrase, “hopeful desperation,” to describe the song, which as an inherent contradiction is right on brand for a radio-friendly single that cuts so deep. The guitars splurge a bit on the distortion, but overall, they keep their soul, which was one of the biggest draws to the band’s first album. Newcomers Allegreto, as well as Kolt Kimbley on drums, do a great job of extrapolating the sound of Late Bloomer and translating some of those sounds into a recognizable but distinctive character. The guitars dig deeper and the drums kind of swim through the song in a way that invokes new trails to blaze rather than the same old tricks. Perhaps it was necessary to go a bit moodier and a bit more cerebral for this track in order to really hammer home that recent evolution.

It’s plain and simple. Greenwing are growing at a hell of a pace. Songwriting, performance, stagecraft—in a landscape where its increasingly difficult to stand out, the band is hitting all their cues. And the biggest cue of all is saying something interesting, piercing something real. Dark is not a long odyssey of a track or anything but it has so much residue of what has helped this band grow in the last couple of years. There is a sense of real people behind the instruments and an atmosphere of not just speaking inwardly but also connecting outwardly.

Can’t wait to see what the boys do next; I can tell Dark is just the beginning.

Tags: greenwing, local music, saskatoon music, saskmusic

About the Author

Noah Dimitrie currently pitches his tent in his hometown of Saskatoon. His ambition in life is to not go completely broke from seeing movies and patronizing used book stores. He is a writer of fiction, art criticism, and the occasional hot take on Reddit. His mom still does his taxes.