Arlo Parks, Wednesday and City and Colour are our tracks of the week
Welcome to Sound Station, where we’re highlighting the best new tracks that came out this week. Head into the weekend with songs from Arlo Parks, Wednesday and more.
Arlo Parks will make you feel “weightless” with her new indie-pop single
After the monumental past few years that Arlo Parks has had — winning the Mercury Prize for 2021’s Collapsed in Sunbeams and earning Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album — the British singer-songwriter is back. In anticipation of her new album My Soft Machine (out May 26 on Transgressive), she shared the lead single, “Weightless.” A bit sped up from her earlier songs, and trading in groovy qualities for shimmery synths, the single finds her reflecting on how the halcyon days of a relationship made her stay when she shouldn’t have, and finding the strength to let it go. Her signature descriptive songwriting here has an acuity for details — phrases like “strawberry days” and references to colors throughout — to help take you to the place she’s singing about having been, and the weightlessness she’s been searching for. —Sadie Bell
Wednesday’s latest country-rock stomp is an ode to Drive-By Truckers
Like many great writers, Wednesday imbue their songs with a divine sense of place. Their latest single, “Chosen to Deserve,” is a track modeled after Drive-By Truckers’ “Let There Be Rock” but recalls vocalist/guitarist Karly Hartzman’s own wild upbringing in Greensboro, North Carolina. Driven by a country-rock crunch, its five-and-a-half minutes fly by in a time warp of watching her friends get stoned off Benadryl, heavy-eyed mornings at Sunday school and crashing her neighborhood pool. Trust that you won’t want to miss their new album, Rat Saw God, out April 7 via Dead Oceans. —Neville Hardman
City and Colour’s “Underground” is a light at the end of the tunnel
When versatile singer-songwriter Dallas Green isn’t busy redefining post-hardcore with the newly reunited Alexisonfire, he performs as City and Colour to offer his most vulnerable, delicate and breathtaking music — and his latest single “Underground” is no exception. With the track, Green reflects on the loss of a close friend and the concept of mortality, offering a mature and uplifting message of making the most of your life and cherishing the little moments before it’s too late. Set to a soundtrack of soul and borderline gospel elements, Green’s voice shines brighter than ever as he promises to be there for those who need him most. —Alessandro DeCaro
Softcult’s “Dress” is a dire and necessary call for consent
Softcult are a band with an incisive message. With their latest single, “Dress,” the twin duo of Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn are uncompromising in their sound and vision. The song, accompanied by a powerful music video, is a demand for consent and respect overtop a shoegaze swirl that simply rips. By its end, their cries of “Won’t ever feel the same again/I’ll never be the same again” lay bare a chilling and painful truth. —Neville Hardman
Pile’s “Nude With A Suitcase” is as engrossing as it is unpredictable
Pile might just be gearing up to release one of the best albums of the year. This week, the Nashville-by-way-of-Boston indie-rock band shared the third single off the upcoming All Fiction (due out Feb. 17 via Exploding in Sound), “Nude With A Suitcase.” While lyrically it’s a bit abstract and comes in at over six minutes, you’ll be tuned into the entire journey, with the sound of Rick Maguire’s powerful, earthy vocals and the song’s engrossing, forward-moving arrangement. It takes turns you might not have expected, piercing your heart in different ways — but that’s the beauty of a band like Pile. —Sadie Bell
The HIRS Collective’s “Trust The Process” will chew you up and spit you out
The HIRS Collective have mastered the art of powerviolence and extreme hardcore — and “Trust The Process” is yet another example. On the new track, the HIRS Collective make good on the promise of a community-driven project by enlisting Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance, L.S. Dunes) and Rosie Richeson of Night Witch to provide even more intensity to the blistering track. With panic chords that recall early Botch and Converge, fry screams and frenzied drum patterns, “Trust The Process” holds nothing back. Iero, who’s just one of the many A-list contributors to the Collective’s upcoming album, sounds like he took a page from Glassjaw vocalist Daryl Palumbo’s book, with a touch of tongue-in-cheek ‘90s proto-screamo in the vein of Antioch Arrow and Pg.99. —Alessandro DeCaro
Kali Uchis releases another chillwave stunner
When a relationship ends, sometimes — after the first sting of bitterness passes — all you want is for the best for them. They meant the world to you at one point, after all. That’s the subject of singer Kali Uchis‘ latest, and she doesn’t just wish someone well; she wishes them roses. Like a rose, the chillwave pop song is soft and sounds romantic, even as it’s reflecting on the feelings that come once a relationship has dissolved. The release follows two more dance-centric singles, “NO HAY LEY” and “La Única (Sprite Limelight),” that were released in 2022 and sung almost exclusively in Spanish. It sounds like she deserves her roses, though, for whatever it is Uchis may be working on. —Sadie Bell
Sam Tinnesz and Nick Wheeler (All-American Rejects) tackle relationships on the rocks with “Spaced Out”
On “Spaced Out,” Sam Tinnesz sings his heart out to anyone in a relationship on the fritz. The breakup ballad, which incorporates everything from his love of emo to subtle country references, tackles the frustration of failed commitment through tender vocal performances that are sure to restore dopamine. And suppose you caught the All-American Rejects reference in the chorus. That’s the point, as Tinnesz enlisted guitarist Nick Wheeler of the beloved pop-rock quartet to provide a series of playful guitar riffs to cap off the emotional roller coaster of the song. —Alessandro DeCaro
