Just the other day I was thinking what a shame it was that Music Band had released an album a few years ago and then seemed to have vanished into the ether. Wake Up Laughing was released via Infinity Cat back in 2016 and continues to be a rather enjoyable dose of rock music that manages to be both upbeat and languid at the same time. So, it was with great surprise and delight that the band has announced a brand new single in the form of “Superstition” and a forthcoming album entitled Celebration, due out April 3rd via Dine Alone Records.
Aside from the delight that the track even exists at all, it sounds like the band isn’t interesting in repeating themselves. The track blasts off with pounding drums and crunchy guitars that give way to a joyous and wide open layer of soaring guitars and dance-y tambourine. While it’s certainly not adhering to the tenants of krautrock, there’s a wall of sound through building and repetitive elements that feels like a healthy nod towards the genre. All that’s to say, it’s a surprising new approach from the band that, personally, sets up quite a bit of anticipation for the full-length.
The official press release for the record provides some pleasant insight into the creation of the record:
Celebration stands as Music Band’s most fully-realized project to date. Where Can I Live and Wake Up Laughing were compilations of songs written over a series of years, Celebration was written in 2017 as a cohesive collection, self-produced and recorded by the band’s own Duncan Shea at his home in Nashville. The record was mixed by Grammy Award winning engineer Collin Dupuis (Angel Olsen, JEFF The Brotherhood, Ex Hex) and was mastered by John Baldwin (The Rolling Stones, Deer Tick, Jessica Lea Mayfield) at his studio in Nashville. “This album is a very clear snapshot of one year in my life,†says vocalist/guitarist Harry Kagan. “Thematically, we tend to write songs about relationships, relatable stuff, but this record is specific to my thoughts on those topics when I was turning 27. It’s interesting to see this album as encapsulating that time.â€
If album release cycles are as reliable as I think they are, we should have at least one more single released ahead of the full album. So keep you ears peeled for that and the forthcoming full-length on April 3rd. In the meantime, go listen on Youtube or Spotify and follow the band on Twitter and Instagram.