By A newly held position I’ve taken is that there are about a half-dozen bands in the New England area who, if they had been based in North Carolina over the last decade instead, may have had a chance at striking it big during this current “indie mainstream” cultural appreciation of Americana, countrygaze, and the folksy singer-songwriter sound. Katie Crutchfield, please, endorse Ezra Cohen! Merge Records, for the love of God, sign Otis Shanty!! MJ Lenderman, take hey i’m outside on tour!!!
My entry point into this exciting world of crunchy Yankeeland rock and country started years ago with Happy Just To See You, a band this publication planted its flag on early, who have actually headlined our one (1) Maine-based Merry-Go-Round Magazine show. They have a career-best new album called LAST WEEK’S HORSE out next week, and we have a final preview of it with its final single and closer “Everything I Am” today.
While the sonic direction of LAST WEEK’S HORSE is defined by the punchier and scrappier cuts—get a load of the bugged-out tempo on “Rat You Out,” a good indicator of what you’ll hear elsewhere on the record—”Everything I Am” is a daydreaming ballad, both a fitting closer and a sensitive, proseful, curious song about our surroundings and the space we hold in it.
On the track, lead singer Evan Benoit says: “I was listening to a lot of Big Thief and the National when I wrote this one, and I think that shines through a bit. The other guys in the band call it ‘the Waxahatchee song’ which, hey, I love her music so I’m fine with that comparison sticking, too. The song is two identical verses, but I was in very different headspaces for each: Verse one is the perspective of being near death in a hospital bed, verse two is out on a date at a cocktail bar. At the end of the day the most powerful form of intimacy is being known and truly seen by someone and I think it’s kind of funny (in maybe a morbid way) how and when we decide to open that door a little for someone to take a look around.”
You can get an early taste of “Everything I Am” below:
LAST WEEK’S HORSE is out May 15th. You can follow the band over on Instagram!
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