By Labrador’s timely sounding songs have more sonically in common with varied classic rock bands than they likely do with this current crop of Americana phenoms. Bucking that obvious trendiness gives each of Pat King’s records a sort of timelessness: there’s a touch of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s howling, rhythmic bounce, some of Cheap Trick’s musical theatrics, some of X’s genre bending punk impulses, and some of Chris Bell’s sensitive cosmic searching. Like, say, Ratboys, their influences and instincts put them adjacent to, but not in, a circle of popular countrygazers and singer-songwriters. In a word, it’s refreshing rock ‘n roll.
Back in 2023 we covered the bands excellent debut HOLD THE DOOR FOR STRANGERS, and they really haven’t slowed down since then. What will be their second album in almost a year long stretch, THE ROSY RED WORLD is rightfully more of the same, filled still with crunchy alt country rhythms and a kind of inherent tuneful radio rock energy that has remained steadfast on the airwaves for 50 years—listen to the arena ready title track of the new album to hear what I mean.
“Slow Down, King,” their latest single, is one filled with hope—a quiet anthem about how the only way out is through. “I’m gonna fight for what I know is right / I’ve got some people I love in my life / that could use me on their side,” King sings. There’s a porch stomping zip to it, the rhythm section bobbing up and down in world-weary defiance.
“As many of us do, I feel like now is the time where I need to stand up for people that I know personally, and many in my community, who cannot fend for themselves under threat of either deportation or physical harm,” King says of the song. “Throughout my life, I’ve been worried about the kind of Christian nationalist, fascist take over that we have seen and have always been told to either calm down or trust that the system in place would prevail. Well, that never happened. This is a song to the people that need to hear that I love them and will never turn my back on them. We will defeat and outlive these fascists. But we have some work to do.
You can hear the song, and watch the band’s first ever music video, below:
THE ROSY RED WORLD is available via No Way Of Knowing Records on June 5th. You can pre-order a copy over on Bandcamp!
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