Zak Coghlan just landed on my radar with his new single “Lead Balloon”. This is one of the most interesting songs I’ve come across this year. It opens with the kind of guitar sound that immediately sets the mood. A few seconds in, his voice comes through and that honestly was the part that kept me listening the most. The first minute is my favorite part of this song. There’s something easy about the way he sings. It has strong weight but it never turns into shouting or overselling the emotion. It’s just honest and it works.
The track sits somewhere between indie rock and indie pop with a chorus that sticks after one listen. Later that night I found myself replaying the hook in my head while driving back home which usually tells me a song did its job. The melodies are strong across the whole track, especially when the guitars start building around the vocals near the middle.
The production is polished and sounds clean. You can hear that everything was carefully put together without losing the raw edge of the song. The lyrics are well written too. They carry that mix of frustration and reflection that fits the darker tone Zak seems to be aiming for here.
There’s real passion in this project and you feel it. The songwriting, the catchy sound and the quality of the production. This new single makes me excited about what Zak does next over the coming months.
