SINGLE REVIEW: Billy Mitchell – Know You Better

By Jay Roberts

Dundee Indie Rocker, Billy Mitchell is here with his brand new banger of a Single; “Know You Better”. The new track was produced by Bruce Rintoul (Twin Atlantic/Fatherson) and is the follow up to his previous and massively popular single “Psycho” from 2018. In short, this upbeat indie track is about finding a new love – takes no time getting ingrained into your brain, with an infectious riff and pulsing drum beat being sure to get stuck in your head after the first listen.

The track starts off big with the lasting hook of an overdriven riff accompanied by a rhythm guitar layered in the background and a massive drum beat. The song then drops nicely into the verse with the lyrics “It’s not the first time but it may as well be the last” resonating strongly with the listener.

The verse goes on with a few sprightly sounding licks on the electric guitar. The final line of the verse “Cause I’ll just be pleasing you if I can” leads shrewdly into the pre-chorus with the strumming pattern changing to a faster more lively style to really build up the chorus. The lyrics in the pre-chorus are brilliantly harmonised bringing to the imagination; a joyful room of people singalong along. Finally the drums really go big on the lead up to the chorus. It’s the type of chorus to be played at a festival under the sun while the crowd are having a great time jumping around with a cold beer!

The chorus lyrics really speak to all of us, that feeling you get when you meet someone who you can’t put the phone down to and end up all night chatting and laughing; “I wanna get to know you better, I wanna keep you up all night” does ring true especially in these times staying up on a call with your favourite person.

The way Billy explains how the track was written echos true of this too; “I had been going through a pretty rough break up and was feeling a bit sorry for myself and drained from fighting off the demons of alcohol and depression. Not long after luckily, I met a girl I had always had my eye on so to speak! My mind was elsewhere now and for the first time in a while my head was clear and I had the urge to express how I was feeling which resulted in this song! Overall it’s about meeting someone new and you just want sit and chat for hours on end”

It’s clear to see (and hear) a lot of meaning has went into this new single of which I’m sure many people will be able to relate to.

I must say the favourite aspect of the track for me is the bridge, it takes the song down slightly at the end to give the final chorus a bigger impact. The track is bare at that point with just an acoustic guitar, chords on a piano and slower drum movement. My favourite lyrics now of the track have got to be the second lines of the chorus “We can rely on each other” through anything, it is amazing the support you can get from someone and just talking (with a prominence felt these days). The final chorus ends the song nicely, with a few excellent high vocal notes to make this a tune very suited for a sing-a-long. Finally ending on the intro riff once more I can almost guarantee will be playing round your head for a while and so you will be aptly whistling along.