Code Orange recently followed up their breakout Grammy-nominated year with "Only One Way," a stand-alone song that is part of Adult Swim's Singles Series. The track helped further push the Code Orange outlook on songwriting beyond start-stop rhythms, jarring noise and hard rock. The original is weird and heavy on its own, but now the group has upped the ante on power electronics thanks to a remix by guitarist Shade, turning it into "only1(the hard way)."
After a whisper of "only one way," the song catapults the listener into a distorted frenzy that keeps leveling up. A sample of the original's bridge takes a step into synthetic madness. Synthesizers fire off, every lyric yelled by Jami Morgan is shrouded in fuzz, and the only thing guiding the song in a coherent way is its repeating riff. Shade succesfully explores an industrial space influenced by Trent Reznor and Merzbow and emerges with a punishing, inspired example of Code Orange's creative ambitions and range.
"Keeping a unique creative energy in every aspect of Code Orange is something we are always thinking about and it's what drives me personally," Shade told The Fader. "This song was a great opportunity for me to portray my alternate vision of the song and for us to bridge the gap with other genres and artists we are influenced by. We are constantly evolving and we're going to keep pushing the boundaries of our band."
