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.