Bicycle Inn’s "Ordinary Hell" turns heartache into an anthem of the burned-out soul

 Boston's emo band Bicycle Inn has its very own anthem for restless souls with its most recent single, "Ordinary Hell". The band shows that their two-year recording absence has only honed its emotional edge and musical ambition. For anyone who has ever felt the world pressing too hard, this is a song that says, you're not alone, and it's okay to feel every note of it.

With Declan Moloney's steady bass and Noah Aguiar and Dylan Ilkowitz layering guitars and vocals upon each other, it feels like a late-night confession played through sound. Gilmar Perez's lead guitar crackles with squalling melody, and Josh Giaquinto lays down a paranoid pulse on drums that feels like it possesses the exact weight of the song's lyrics. Guest spots from Ryan O'Rourke, Kyle Kinney, and Maggie Ciora underscore the occasional flutter and gently lift without ever outshining the band's central identity.

Co-written by Moloney, Ilkowitz, Perez, and Aguiar with Tom Pompei, "Ordinary Hell" explores themes of faith, exhaustion, and diminished expectations that arise from seeking meaning amid emotional and spiritual fatigue. But there's a raw honesty in the lyrics which is ideally suited for Gary Cioni's layered production, where it was cut organically over two painstaking sessions at Soundacres Studio sometime between 2023 and 2024.

The song's power stems from its openness, it's not just playing to the heartache but instead living it and welcoming in listeners for a moment of shared reflection and, eventually, release. Bicycle Inn is as good at spinning personal torment into collective catharsis as ever, proving with "Ordinary Hell" that they're back with the same old emo sensibilities and a voice that's both refined and dang resonant.

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