Extremely happy to share the brand new single from Volunteer Department from the forthcoming EP Clean Living, due out this Fall on Like You Mean It Records. With the releasee of “Make It Easy,”
Volunteer Department once again proves their keen ability to write a delicious melody filled with subversive commentary and just the right amount of snarling bite.

Previous singles like the righteous “Shitten” or spellbinding “Cows of Tomorrow” collab with Heaven Honey had already firmly entrenched our love for Oliver Hopkin’s songwriting style but “Make It Easy” takes a slightly different tact. While the most recent previous releases have been very clear in their outward spite towards their subject matter, this new track is more reserved, colder and, somehow, even more cutting. The accompanying press release for the track provides the necessary backdrop to truly appreciate it’s commentary.

“This song has such a passively bitter quality to it that I feel compelled to shed some light on the circumstance surrounding it’s creation. I’m not an inherently negative or aggressive person. I try to meet people where they stand but not all folks are like that. There was this man in my life for a few years who was a veritable alcoholic/narcissist and he would call me up and chew me out quite often when he was was feeling aggressive. I got really tired of that eventually, told him that respect was a two way street, and then wrote “Make it Easy” a week or so after my final interaction with him. So if anyone’s got some truth they need to lay on someone refusing to respect their boundaries then this song is for them.” -Volunteer Department

With the benefit of context, the song really lifts off as a laser focused fuck you. The juxtaposition of that impetus against the light arrangement and beautiful crescendo the track takes is exactly why we’re always excited when news of fresh Volunteer Department hits our inbox.

We don’t have the firm release date for the full EP release but this taste of the new works is more then enough to whet the appetite. There’s no telling what vibe it will take but we’re here for it.

Tayls is set to play Live on the Green this Sunday, September 4th at 5:30 in the afternoon. The sun will be starting to set and I’ve no doubt that the band will explode on stage with an energy that has become synonymous with their whole vibe.

Case in point, the band just released their brand new single “Universe is Crumbly” and there’s no better word to describe it than explosive. The track is an excellent fit to their ever growing catalog of songs that manage to exude a bright optimism filled with sing-along choruses while lyrically tackling self-doubt, loneliness, and introspection. Taylor Cole sings:

We’re just trying to keep it together
Feels like everything is coming apart
Like living in a twilight zone
feeling so alone
I’m just fumblin’ around in the dark

This sentiment has become true for many of us post-COVID, post-Roe v Wade, mid-environmental collapse, or just for no global reason at all. Living is hard and Tayls has never shied away from tackling those feelings head on. “Universe is Crumbly” packages up all that anxiety and unfurls it as an exorcism. Bottling up those feelings will only eat away at your insides but, here, Tayls lets all those feelings fly free.

We’ve got it on good authority this isn’t the only new Tayls song in the pipeline but it’s an excellent reminder to see them at Live on the Green and, more importantly, to embrace a soundtrack to your life that lets you release it all with exuberance.