Van Goose’s song “Last Bus” is a fat, multi-layered, new-wave, techno epic. The New York-based act starts the song with a pingy drum machine tone and classic, sandy electronic hi-hat, both energizing opening members to the song’s instrumental ensemble. “Last Bus” builds to a plateau, shedding and regaining some of its instrumental skin along the way. Driving, technological rhythms appear and disappear either through the round, front-and-center bass line, or the thin, new-wave, post-punk rhythm guitar, accenting the tight pocket created by the lead synth, drum machine, and bass.

The track captures that perfect straight-faced DEVO-quirk with pings and dings, which flick and tickle the ears around each channel. The delivery of the vocal also gives me a nostalgic Motherborough-feel, too. Speaking of vocals, there are some dark, hymnal-like vocal harmonies which add a dark, poppy hook to the deadpan whim of the song.

Two minutes in, the listener is hit with a funky automatic drive that feels like you’ve got the digital wind in your hair, cruising down a highway in Tron. It hits the chests and drives up through the brain, then disappears. These moments of musical upheaval and the sudden energetic changes before slipping back into the familiar territory of the song are some of my favorite in music. “Last Bus” elicits the feeling of a hazy jaunt through a neon dance club which teeters on a sense of suspense and danger.

The track is a fun, tight, and energetic romp. Watch the video for “Last Bus” here: