The Technicolors turn self-reckoning into revelation on “First Class to Nowhere,” a haunting, heartfelt, and hypnotic standout off their fourth album ‘Heavy Pulp’ that sees them teaming up with Madison Cunningham for a dreamy alt-rock reverie – finding beauty in disillusionment and grace in seeing yourself clearly again.

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“First Class to Nowhere” – The Technicolors

You wish you were somebody else, twice as tall as all the lies you used to tell yourself…

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There’s an ache that lives inside The Technicolors’ “First Class to Nowhere,” and it hums beneath every note.

A dreamy, glistening song full of unfiltered angst and wayward feeling, the band’s collaboration with Madison Cunningham leans into heartbreak and self-reckoning with disarming grace. Seductive guitars shimmer, vocals entwine like smoke and sunlight, and together they create a spellbinding soundscape that feels as vulnerable as it is intoxicating.

You wish you were somebody else
Twice as tall as all the lies
you used to tell yourself
So paint your lucky open door
Watch your step but don’t forget
to hide your heart beneath your charm
It won’t take long, but never let it

Where The Technicolors’ fourth album Heavy Pulp brims with swagger and experimentation, “First Class to Nowhere” strips away the façade. Its edges are softer, its emotions exposed. Frontman Brennan Smiley calls it “a sort of ‘get well soon’ card to myself and to that person and to anyone,” explaining, “While a lot of other songs on the album take a different approach – hiding behind masks or playing different characters as a way of revealing something else – it was important for this song to feel as naked and vulnerable as possible and to risk that level of honesty. I’d be lying to myself if I said that came easy.”

That honesty is what makes “First Class to Nowhere” so magnetic. The chorus is a gut-punch of self-awareness wrapped in a glittering melody: “Bleed into normal, bet you’re gonna feel so immortal, until you’re just somebody goin’ first class to nowhere.” It’s a biting kind of poetry – one that turns disillusionment into revelation. The line “bleed into normal” feels like a quiet rebellion, a refusal to fade into complacency; it’s as if Smiley is singing to all the parts of himself he’s outgrown.

Bleed into normal
bet you’re gonna
Feel so immortal
Until you’re just somebody
goin’ first class to nowhere

Madison Cunningham’s presence amplifies that tension beautifully. Her warm, crystalline harmonies seem to steady the song’s ache, adding dimension and empathy to Smiley’s introspection. The two voices weave together like parallel confessions – distinct but connected, both searching for the same elusive sense of peace.

Produced by GRAMMY-nominated Robert Adam Stevenson and featuring BRONCHO’s Nathan Price on drums, the track carries the spirit of restraint – a masterclass in how much can be said when a band chooses space over noise. “First Class to Nowhere” may glide with a soft touch, but its impact runs deep.

Smiley admits this song was hard-won: “For whatever reason, I’ve noticed a pattern where I’ll attempt to write a song directly for someone close, or with that specific person in mind, and it almost always turns out that I’m actually writing it to myself just the same.” That self-confrontation defines the track – raw, reflective, and quietly redemptive.

So take my eyes look at yourself
Through the broken lens that hides
my own disguise so well
I tried to walk on ice in sox
Instead I tripped and fell
into the hammock of your heart
It won’t take long, but never let it

“First Class to Nowhere” doesn’t offer resolution so much as recognition. It’s about learning to see yourself clearly again, even when it hurts.

A melancholic lullaby for anyone caught between who they were and who they’re trying to be, it leaves you haunted and hopeful all at once – the kind of song that lingers long after the last note fades.

Heavy Pulp, out now via SoundOn, expands on that same spirit of honesty. Smiley describes it as the band’s “first exploration” into their own world – a record that celebrates imperfection, instinct, and the pulse of real emotion. “We just wanted to keep as much pulp in the juice,” he explains, “and not hide the blemishes.” It’s that commitment to truth – messy, raw, and utterly human – that makes both The Technicolors’ “First Class to Nowhere” and the album it lives on feel so vital right now.

Bleed into normal, bet your gonna
Feel so immortal
I’ll never, I’ll never let you
Bleed into normal, bet your gonna
Feel so immortal
’til you’re just somebody
goin first class to nowhere
first class to nowhere

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“First Class to Nowhere” – The Technicolors

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 © Eric Halvorsen

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