Single Review: Should Have Let You Know

Nick Burson spent a decade cutting his teeth on the covers scene of Christchurch city. The lockdown of 2020 allowed him to finally focus on releasing his own music to the world.

His debut single, Should Have Let You Know, is an apology to his significant others about his choice of job and lifestyle. The title may as well have been “Sorry But” because the lyrics make it clear Burson has something to prove and he’s a lifer.

The earthy guitar tones belie the slow-motion car crash of a man’s life shattering into the pieces of bleary tired night-mornings, missed birthdays, and probably car crashes. The choruses are accented by pretty female harmonies that echo his words like the ghosts of a thousand neglected relationships; mournful apparitions lamenting the cold indifference of a soul addicted to the smell of stale piss.

In a bridging moment of self-reflection, on the precipice of being trapped in a purgatory of his own making, Burson comes to the crushing realisation that he is an island. In a mist of sustained keyboard chords and occasional guitar doodles, he comes face to face with the fact that he was the ghost the whole time, watching the people in his life from behind a creepy bookcase. He decides if nobody thinks he’s there, he’ll just have to believe in himself.

Should Have Let You Know uses the vehicle of classic rock to deliver the moral that if you want to do one thing, but people want something else from you, maybe you can do two things. If you like Tom Petty, give Nick Burson a try.