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Apr 08, 2022 By Caleb Campbell

​Electronic music outfit Test Patterns is the creative outlet of musician Gage Bickerstaff. As a music school drop-out, Bickerstaff often finds himself drawn and differing directions, yet bristling upon the constraints on his creation. This has resulted in a love-hate relationship with pop music and a long-standing desire to push its boundaries.

Bickerstaff shows off this tension with the dark indie pop of his new album, Modern Font. Last month, Test Patterns shared his first single from the record, “Don’t Ask Me,” and today he’s back with his new single “High Noon,” premiering with Under the Radar.

Musically, “High Noon” is brimming with dark subtleties and layered electronic touches, yet it also retains the vital intimate spark of potent songwriting. The track slowly unfolds its depths, opening with warbling synth patterns and the low pulse of syncopated percussion before Bickerstaff’s glassy falsetto, driving rhythms, and twinkling synths drive it in divergent directions. The track’s initial understated intimacy quickly gives way to a searing passion as Bickerstaff traces the contours of a dark inner turmoil一“I guess I lost it / Lost my heart somewhere / I guess I lost it / Lose it all again / ‘Cause it keeps on burning, burning inside my head.”

Bickerstaff says of the track, “This song came together late in the production of the album. I wasn’t sure what to do with it for a long time. At some point I tried to be as vulnerable as I could be, hoping to write lyrics that stick to your ribs in a way that lasts, or lasts as long as anything can these days. The lyrics represent the way a lot of people I know feel right now.”

Check out the song below. Modern Font is out everywhere on April 22nd.