Highly Suspect Crafts a Big Tribute To Romantic Anguish

At the beginning...acoustic guitar. At the end...acoustic guitar. In between the story of a man brought to his knees by a romantic entanglement gone horribly wrong. Highly Suspect knows how to push the right psychological buttons throughout "Little One". If the video plot is to be believed lead vocalist Johnny Stevens is having a discount store meltdown as a way to vent his frustrations over this twosome fallen by the boards. Lyrically he's a broken man down on his luck and ripe to be tossed into any one of a number of alcohol induced self medicating situations which don't promise happy endings. Check out verse three for confirmation..."I'm tired, you're angry and everyone looks blurry. I love you. I'm leaving; so long. Rampant throughout the chorus bursts the sentiment: Hey little one I'm so scared of what this could've been. I know that today I lost my only friend, my little one. Highly Suspect feels Johnny's pain on multiple levels. For example Johnny's lead guitar bristles with the sting of his deteriorating state. He's a man carrying around an open flesh wound that no medicine can alleviate much less cure. Ryan Meyer drums his way to a new level of angst whereas Johnny's brother Rich does an unbelievable job on bass. The opening salvo doesn't prepare you for the all out assault on your senses that comes on its heels. When it comes you're dropped back on your heels, finding that escape is bound to be futile. Haven't we all had one of those moments where we wish to trash the local Dollar Tree until it's nothing but a huge pile of rubble. We live vicariously through Johnny, and our hats go off to him for allowing us the privilege. Throughout the song Johnny slips deeper and deeper into a black hole somewhat of his own making. This is where the rhythms are at their most convincing. At the closing portion we hear the instrumentation begin to quiet back down even as the video shows Johnny's mental collapse complete. The cops have him dead to rights and he comes off as totally overwhelmed. The man doesn't even care about the weather, a point driven home by "It's raining. It's sunny. It doesn't make a difference." You'd like to offer him a tall cool one but you're suspecting that might exacerbate the situation. "Little One" makes a big noise on behalf of bereft lovers everywhere. The wounds are palpable and we empathize in no small measure.