When asks what music I like, one of my go-to answers has long been “dance music made by rock bands, and rock music made by dance acts”. There is something in that overlap that appeals to me, and perhaps that predisposes me to like Crewless, who claim a very-loose musical backbone of “house music with punk guitars”.
As a group, it appears that Crewless enjoy toying with concepts. They have three vocalists, lending them a hard-to-pin down quality — a diverse palette, a collective energy, and a dynamic interplay. But they also like to create two versions of their songs. It may be that one of these will be more electronic, and dance floor orientated, whilst the other is more laid back.
And that technique is employed here, on Elevator. The “Going Up” version deals in angular guitars, crunchy distortion and loose-but-punchy percussion, a punk-funk aesthetic with a melt-in-the-middle in the chorus. In contrast, the “Going Down” version has a crisper, electronic feel to it, electronic drums providing a cool, polished aesthetic, against which sub-bass and glass-like vocals slide past. Both are special, distinctive, and atmospheric in their own way.
Check both versions of Elevator our, below: