Did you ever read about those ancient maps with incomprehensible scribbles in the margins—”here be dragons”? Listening to fxrrvst’s latest single, “Hate Has No Home Here,” feels a little like sailing off the edge of one of those maps. But instead of dragons, it’s an anthem that rises up like a megaphone made of stardust and raw nerve.
Holly and Matt, this firecracker duo, don’t come at you with the soft hands of indie politeness. They’ve got the heavy artillery of unity, compassion, and one hell of a grudge against hate. Palm-muted guitars churn like a slow-rolling freight train, but there’s a sparkle in the layers too, as if melody always has the last word—even after you’ve been knocked sideways by the gritty overdrive.
It’s not an easy balance, the way tension keeps finding itself dissolved in soaring choruses. But they pull it off with some kind of mysterious grace. Maybe Holly’s voice is to blame for that; it’s got both edge and ache—two things that probably shouldn’t mix but do, kind of like ice cubes in a campfire.
And it’s not subtle. Not like those songs where the “message” hides in a metaphor behind a pillow. This one tears the pillow open. Solidarity is the air it breathes. Can you feel the urgency? Holly and Matt seem to be holding the door wide open for all of us, and everyone else still stuck outside in a whirlwind of hate.
If Picasso had a punk streak, I imagine he’d paint this song: loud, unapologetic, vividly angular. You might walk away from “Hate Has No Home Here” thinking less about the music and more about what you’re doing with your own nerve.
Let that sit awkwardly in your chest for a while.
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