The Dare – What’s Wrong With New York?

Label: Polydor / Republic Records
Released: 6th September 2024

If there was ever a Dionysus for the music industry, then The Dare is it. Inspiring carnage, frenzy and a little bit of debauchery, with his debut album ‘What’s Wrong With New York?’ he injects some much-needed ecstasy and pleasure into the world. From the very beginning of ‘Open Up’, you get the sense that The Dare, or Harrison Patrick Smith, is dragging you down the stairs of a basement bar, plunging you headfirst into a hedonistic rush of sweaty bodies, tequila and smoke-filled corners. It’s enough to have even the most hermit-like amongst us out of retirement and desperately craving a depraved, messy night at the club. 

The guitars feel like taunts – a warning sign before things truly descend into chaos. The Dare is an overseer here, deftly changing the atmosphere with a flick of the hand and amping up the intensity with a coy wink. It’s easy to think each track is the best one yet, and still, the next blows everything out of the water. The run of ‘Good Time’, ‘Perfume’ and ‘Girls’ is just quintessential The Dare – unabashed and unserious, it is the epitome of that lightning-in-a-bottle magic that has captivated so many. From that point onwards, it becomes an act of outdoing what came before, of making something bigger, more stirring, more complex.

‘All Night’ is an anthemic, glitchy release, while ‘Elevate’ offers a darker sort of dance-pop – it feels slightly more sincere and anguished but still builds towards a euphoria that you can relinquish all control to. ‘Movement’ is completely speaker-blowing and intense. The album unfolds in a way that celebrates the party and wants to keep it going until dawn solely for the connection at its core. The 3am friendships made on a dancefloor, the conversations shared over a late-night cigarette, the shared joy at discovering a new favourite song with someone you just met. In the dark of the night, there’s a magic that The Dare uncovers and rejoices in. 

There’s been a feverish response to The Dare in recent months, and ‘What’s Wrong With New York?’ elevates that fervour to new heights – it pushes boundaries and crafts something that truly feels like its own moment. This deliriously wild evening spent with The Dare must come to a close eventually, and final track ‘You Can Never Go Home’ begs one concluding question: why would you ever want to?