New sounds from EWAH & TVOP, Maggie Rogers, The Spyrals, The Corks, Semisonic

Our final selection of New Music for 2020 includes our usual wide range of musical styles. Some of these are brand-new releases and some are a few months old, but worth catching up with before the January rush of releases.

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EWAH & The Vision of Paradise: Vanishing Point

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We can't claim to be familiar with the music scene in Tasmania, but 2020 introduced us to this indie quartet based in its capital city of Hobart and fronted by Emma Waters. They describe their music as "cinematic post-punk merging with new wave and a lick of gothic." Listeners to our nightly free-form show The Detour have heard a few of their recent releases, and now their latest single lands in our New Music bin. UK review site Backseat Mafia calls the track "mesmerising, hypnotic and crystalline. ... Guitars scythe their way through the wash of keyboards, and Ewah’s voice is cold, distant and emotive at the same time."

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Maggie Rogers: Celadon & Gold

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Although this is a brand-new release, it was recorded in 2016, just before Rogers broke out to national attention with her hit single "Alaska." It's the opening track on Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016, which draws together 16 songs from her late teens and early 20s, some previously self-released and others, like "Celadon & Gold," available for the first time. Stereogum writes that the collection proves Rogers "could just as easily pivot [from pop] to languorous guitar-driven alt-rock or coffeehouse folk-rock if she so chose." This track fits more in the alt-rock category.

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The Spyrals: Same Old Line

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This is the title track from the fourth album under this band name, but the first with its current lineup. Frontman Jeff Lewis moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles and reformed The Spyrals with Michael McDougal and Dash Borinstein. Shindig Magazine says the new LP "features influences from The Stooges, The Stones and classic era Creedence, all distilled through a haze of Crazy Horse smoke and mirrors." The Neil Young influence is particularly strong on this title track.

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The Corks: Already Gone

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This Montreal group formed when its members met at university about five years ago. They're a bit hard to categorize, as their releases have varied in style from fuzzy garage rock through shades of blues, funk and pop-rock. "We don't really feel the need to commit to just one style of music," the band says. "We kind of just start jamming, and if we like what we hear, we'll write a song off it." This recent single is solid, hook-y alt-rock.

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Semisonic: Basement Tapes

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We jump back a few months to pull another track from You're Not Alone, the first release in nearly 20 years from Dan Wilson, John Munson and Jacob Slichter. Under The Radar calls the EP a collection of "straightforward power pop songs filled with hope, emptied of pretense." This track seems to reminisce about early days of touring by a young band "just living the Big Star dream," with scenes like this: "So we tool down to Kansas City to sleep on a sofa / and we're cool temporarily 'cos we're from Minnesota."

We don't play Christmas music - until Christmas! Join us for an all-instrumental holiday morning

While Christmas music is everywhere you turn, we're giving you an alternative by sticking to our year-round Marvelous Mix of new music, indie music, classic rock and more -- right up until ... 

... Christmas morning, Midnight-Noon EST (0500-1700 UTC), when we'll play a continuous stream of instrumental holiday music. 

Enjoy a mix of jazz, folk-acoustic and pop-orchestral versions of Christmas and Yuletide tunes - all free and commercial-free - here on your favorite independent, noncommercial internet music station.

Christmas Wrapping 2020 Pandemic Update

Here's a little holiday treat: The Bryan Hansen Band, joined by singer Kim Boyko, put a 2020 dumpster-fire spin on The Waitresses' 1981 classic "Christmas Wrapping." Happy Socially Distanced Holidays!

New Paul McCartney, Matthew Sweet, Matt Cook, The Thank Yous, Phoenix and the Silvervoodoos

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Paul McCartney: Find My Way

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What's a veteran songwriter / musician / recording artist to do while in pandemic-induced isolation at home? Write and play and record, what else? In the tradition of 1970's McCartney and 1980's McCartney II comes 2020's McCartney III. The album wanders through different style and moods, so no one track is representative of the whole. Our choice for the New Music Bin "sounds like indie-rock filtered through his more traditional instincts," says UltimateClassicRock.com.

The influence of McCartney and The Beatles runs deep in other tracks in our New Music bin this week.

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Matthew Sweet: Stars Explode

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The Nebraska native's first two albums were solo efforts, before he hit it big with the full-band sound of Girlfriend. His upcoming release, Catspaw,is nearly a one-man project as well, as Sweet handles the guitar, bass and vocal parts, joined by Ric Menck on drums. Sweet tells American Songwriter that he named this track after a North Carolina indie band after hearing them do a song called "Matthew Sweet." “I was flattered and liked the song and their band name ... I’ve always been interested in Space and that greater nature of things; I love the concept that “we are all stardust.” I explored that idea in the lyrics." (Of course we had to check out the band called The Stars Explode; we may pick up some of their music, too.)

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Matt Cook: Too Much

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This singer-songwriter based in the Asbury Park, N.J., area cites the likes of Brian Wilson and Ben Folds among his influences. Reviewing his latest album, #AlbumNumber5Sessions, Asbury Park Vibes writes: "There’s a jaunty energy to the lush and warm piano-driven number 'Too Much' that allows it to wash over listeners." The album features a stellar cast of NJ musicians, including bassist William Blakey from another group you've heard us feature, The Bryan Hansen Band. Expect to hear more of Cook's music on our midday show The Birch Street Bistro.

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The Thank Yous: Feel A Whole Lot Bitter

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As the year winds down and the rush of new releases slows, we're going through some of the music that came our way earlier in the year and looking for more tracks to add to our big mix. Back in April, we featured "These Things Happen" from this indie band out of Norway. We now return to their Good Times Killing Us album for this another slice of power pop. The title echoes a classic song by The Byrds, switching "better" to "bitter" (or is that just a typo?) and switching the plot around. This time the singer isn't the one who's been wronged: "You didn't know that all the time / I was just putting you on." Yeah, she's bitter and better off without him.

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Phoenix and the Silvervoodoos: Slip Away (remix)

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For a solid dose of hard rock we turn to this female-fronted indie band from Asquith, Saskatchewan. They describe their music as "loud and powerful" with a "dark and mysterious sound." Frontwoman/guitarist Phoenix Christa is backed up by guitarist Roland King and drummer Linda King. This track, a remix of a 2019 recording, was released as a single this fall - so it's "new" enough to fit in our New Music bin.

Fresh sounds from The Defending Champions, Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar, Rooks, Days Indoors, The Crayon Set

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The Defending Champions: Soundtrack

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This should-be-better-known band from New Jersey packs a punch with its brassy brand of indie rock. Its repertoire takes in R&B, punk ska, jazz, Latin rhythms and more. This rolling new single highlights the horn section, as the lyrics comment on our divided society: "Everybody's listening to their own soundtrack, you know / People keep talking with nothing to say / Nobody is listening they just want their way, it shows." 

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Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar: Love Is All Around

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No, this band is not from the Mississippi Delta, but from Toronto. The new album, The Reckless One, is Martin's sixth and her second with her current group, which Glide Magazine calls "one of the premier soul bands in Canada." Our pick for the New Music bin mixes some funk into its big blues-band sound. Another highlight of the LP that you'll be hearing in our mix is a cover of Bob Dylan's "Meet Me in the Morning" that turns it into the stomping blues number it was meant to be. 

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Rooks: The High Road

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Jumping across Canada, we pick up on the latest release from this Calgary-based trio. The High Road is the debut LP from Jay Bowcott (vocals, guitar), Brent Rossall (bass, synths) and Darryl Swart (drums), who describe their sound as "unapologetic guitar rock, drawing influences from bands like Thin Lizzy, The Rolling Stones and The Black Keys." We even hear a bit of The Who's influence on this opening, title track.

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Days Indoors: Silent Criers

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This is the latest single from a London-based band that's preparing a new EP, Tales of Shade & Colour, for release in the spring. They cite influences ranging from Foo Fighters and The Killers to Stereophonics and Coldplay. The group's name seems particularly appropriate in these days of isolation, as does this song's message of encouragement to "all the lonely people." 

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The Crayon Set: Moment

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Ready for some 2021 music? "Moment" is the next single, set for release in January, from this Dublin alt-pop band's forthcoming album, Downer Disco, The whole LP was scheduled for release this year, but has been delayed by ... you guessed it, the global pandemic that has foiled so many plans in 2020. This track has a sunny sound contrasting with lyrics about trying to overcome anxiety: "I can't get out of bed / There's evil voices in my head."

Our latest picks: Joy Ike, Vanishing Shores, Local Natives, The Strokes + introducing 26th Avenue

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Joy Ike: Wearing Love

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The Nigerian-American, Philadelphia-based artist says this song originated with thoughts about her personal life but evolved into "my response to 2020. In the blackhole of identity politics, social media wars, and our country's polarizing responses to racial injustice, this song is a response and a challenge to come up higher and do better - to wear love better than we wear our pride...or our political affiliations." 

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Vanishing Shores: Road Less Traveled

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This Cleveland-based indie group is about to release its Kickstarter-financed, pandemic-delayed album Maps. We previously featured the early single "Fix Me," and now we're picking up this guitar-driven ode to exploration (with Katie Egan again providing backing vocals). Key lyric: "I don’t care if we get lost / We can always find the stars / I believe in hope unseen / I believe it changes everything."

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Local Natives: Statues in the Garden (Arras)

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From the Los Angeles band's new EP Sour Lemon comes this sweet track that Rolling Stone calls "an eclectic showcase of the group’s varied talents, featuring shimmering guitars and dreamy melodies, with its swirling, intricate arrangement helping to frame the depiction of someone reconciling changes in themselves with a world that is also constantly changing." 

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The Strokes: The Adults Are Talking

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This is the opening track on The New Abnormal, which came out back in April, but it has just been spun out as a single, accompanied by an amusing video that has the band playing baseball against robots. Because why not? 

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26th Avenue: 2:06

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This is the debut single from the debut EP, Fuel the Fire, by a young band of indie-rockers from Sussex, UK. They began playing local gigs in 2018. From the press release: "The band weaves alternative sounds like Paramore’s alt-punk rock influence with the upbeat soft playfulness of Wolf Alice or Yonaka ... [featuring] electrifying high-energy guitar riffs" behind vocalist Demi.

New music by Yukon Blonde, The Weather Station, Dispatch, Airport Impressions, My Morning Jacket

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Yukon Blonde: Good Times

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This track from the new LP Vindicator is almost two songs in one. It opens as a laid-back yet buoyant piano-based song. As Canadian Beats describes it: "Midway, the track suddenly shifts to a rollicking tangent that’s partially dissociative while never straying from the general vibe." The album is a great listen from start to finish, and we'll be sprinkling more tracks into our mix.

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The Weather Station: Tried to Tell You

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The folk-rock band fronted by Toronto singer-songwriter Tamara Lindeman will release its latest album, Ignorance,in February. Of this track, WXPN's The Key writes: "The gradual build of Lindeman’s airy vocals is rooted by a driving dance beat ... [the band] layers strings, guitars, synths in a never-ending crescendo." Lindeman says the lyrics are about “reaching out to someone - a specific person, or maybe every person - who is tamping down their wildest and most passionate self in service of some self (and world?) destructive order."

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Dispatch: May We All

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Photo: Matt Catalano

This Boston-based indie band got its start in the 1990s, amicably disbanded in the mid-2000s, reunited in the 2010s and now moves into its fourth decade with Chadwick Stokes and Brad Corrigan as its remaining original members. They are in the midst of releasing an album in three phases. Stokes tells American Songwriter that this track from Phase 1 is built around "this idea of what it means to be forsaken and what that might look like to different demographics in our country.”

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Airport Impressions: Light Years

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We can't claim to be familiar with the music scene in Malta, but by way of UK-based Deuce Music we've been introduced to this indie-rock band fronted by singer-songwriter Errol Sammut. Initially formed in 2008, the band has gone through various personnel changes, solidifying its current lineup about two years ago. The group's sound has drawn comparisons to other bands that emerged in the century's first decade, such as The Killers and Kings of Leon.

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My Morning Jacket: Run It

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Released in July as part of The Waterfall II, this track has been moving up on the alternative and Americana charts lately, which brought it back to our attention and into our New Music bin. Like the rest of the album, it was recorded back in 2013 in the sessions that led to the release of the original Waterfall LP in 2015. Can eight-year-old music be new? Sure, if we haven't heard it before!

Latest from Grand Splendid, Sharon Lia Band, Brooke Annibale, Sunflower Bean, Less Than Jake

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Grand Splendid: You Are the Universe

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This band has been part of the Montreal indie-rock scene for years and released an EP (Numbers) in 2013. Now comes the first single from an upcoming full-length album. They describe their music as featuring "upfront electric guitars and soothing vocal melodies," and both are featured on this track. In an interview with Montreal Rocks, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Julian Buchbinder said his early influences included The Beatles, The Cure and R.E.M. This song, he said, "is very personal to me. I wrote it when my son was born and my whole perspective of life changed completely. Maybe the fact that I was sleep deprived at the time could have something to do with the psychedelic feel of it." 

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Sharon Lia Band: The Sum Of Us

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Released several months ago but just reaching our ears, this anthem of unity provides a fine introduction to the Philadelphia alternative-progressive rock band fronted by singer and pianist Sharon Lia. The song "is about the conflict within ourselves, the tragedy of giving up, the victory of rising when we fall, the symphony of realizing our potential, and the philosophy that every single one of us contributes to the sum of us all,” Lia says. 

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Brooke Annibale: Home Again

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Also released several months ago but just finding its way to our New Music bin is this love song to the singer-songwriter-guitarist's future wife. Their wedding was planned for this summer, but had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Annibale decided to mark the date by releasing this track as a single. "It’s a song about figuring out how to communicate our love for one another and ultimately build a life and make a home together."  

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Sunflower Bean: Moment in the Sun

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The Brooklyn-based trio is out with a bouncy single that Consequence of Sound calls "quite a departure from the glammy ’70s rock of their Twentytwo in Blue sophomore record or last year’s King of the Dudes EP. It’s firmly in the indie pop sphere, modern synth intersplicing jangly ’80s pop guitar lines on the chorus." The band says the theme of the song is "finally recognizing what is important in one’s life, the people you decide to spend it with.”  

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Less Than Jake: Lie to Me

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Photo by Paris Vison

Still ska-punking after all these years, this band from Gainesville, Florida is bringing out a new LP, Silver Linings - its first since founding member Vinnie Fiorello moved on and Matt Yonker took over on drums. Chris DeMakes (vocals, guitar), Roger Lima (vocals, bass) and Buddy Schaub (trombone) remain from the lineup that debuted with 1995's Pezcore, along with early addition Peter "JR" Wasilewski. "We didn’t try to reinvent the wheel with this [album], it’s still undeniably Less Than Jake," says Lima. "Just a bit punchier and in-your-face."

New Foo Fighters + Ida Mae feat. Marcus King + Chair Warriors + Valley + Just Like Honey

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Foo Fighters: Shame Shame

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Dave Grohl says he and his fellow foos wanted to try something a little different in making their upcoming album, Medicine at Midnight. Citing examples like Bowie's Let's Dance and the Stones Tattoo You - "those rock albums that would make you get up and move and dance" -  Grohl told Loudwire: "We haven't done that yet, so we went into the studio with that in mind ... I don't even wanna say it's like our 'dance record,' but it's got grooves that we've never had before, so they kind of make you bounce around." He also said this first single may be the least-typical-FF song in the batch.

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Ida Mae: Deep River (feat. Marcus King)

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The husband-and-wife duo of Chris Turpin and Stephanie Jean hail from Norfolk, U.K. but their love of Americana folk, country and blues styles brought them to Nashville. On this track from their new EP Raining For You, they expand on their acoustic sound by teaming up with Marcus King. They describe the song as "the rowdy dystopian dream-state adventure of two people In love. It was written in one sitting as a stream of consciousness storybook about two people leaving their home to try and make something of themselves, only to find themselves lost in a system that is out of their control." The result is a wonderfully frantic blues-rock blast. 

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Chair Warriors: Spirit

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Several tracks from this Montreal band's 2017 album Dawn of Edo are in our big mix, and we're glad to be among the first to spin this new single. Entertainment site V13 premiered it a few days ago, saying it shows the indie-rock trio "at their most polished and most capable." The band says it's part of "a slew of new upcoming material that breaks the mold we originally created with our previous EP," and that will tell a story of an "entity" with a message that can change the world for the better. Musically, they describe the track as "all about classic ‘80s synths and a retro-wave aesthetic while maintaining signature elements of our earlier work.”

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Valley: hiccup

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This Toronto indie-pop quartet steps up its game on its new EP, sucks to see you doing better. Northern Transmissions writes: "Each track is a multi-layered composition with captivating notes of exploration and curiosity which allows fans to go beyond the traditional means of songwriting." Karah James steps out from behind the drums to join guitarist/lead singer Rob Laska on vocals, and we agree with the reviewer that "Valley is at their strongest when both Rob and Karah share the mic." The themes running through the lyrics of all five songs are breakup-regret and young-adult ennui, sugar-coated in catchy tunes and bouncy production.

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Just Like Honey: Heart Has No Place

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Composed of musicians from the USA, Germany, France and Canada, this band (or its PR people) describe its music as "bittersweet melancholy" combining influences from dream pop, alternative rock and indie folk. The band was started by Patrick Le Mar (guitars, bass) and his half-brother Steve (drums, percussion) and became complete with the additions of Darlene Jonasson (lead vocals, guitar, mandolin) and Bianca Yang (lead vocals, bass, piano). This track from their new album, Into the Wild, mixes well with the likes of The Sundays and The Cranberries.

Daniel Lanois, Reuben and the Dark, Deep Sea Diver, Seaway, Lauren Mann in our New Music bin

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Daniel Lanois: (Under the) Heavy Sun

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Photo by Floria Sigismondi

The latest project from the producer behind some of the most influential albums in rock history has him working with guitarist Rocco DeLuca, organist Johnny Shepherd and bassist Jim Wilson to create what Spin calls a "space-gospel vibe." The four share vocal duties on the forthcoming album, Heavy Sun, with Shepherd taking the lead on this track. "Under The Heavy Sun," says Lanois, "imagines a place where spirit rises from the ground, from hurt to glory, an open road to a joy untold, a club somewhere in outer space where you leave your ego at the door to enter a new dimension of freedom." XS Noise says the track "fuses classic gospel and modern electronics, mixing gritty, human textures with crisp, digital accents and lush, swirling atmospherics."

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Reuben and the Dark: Change

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"This song has been floating around for a while," says Reuben Bullock, frontman of this Calgary-based folk-rock band. It didn't make it onto the group's 2019 album un \ love, but its release as a single seems well-timed to the present moment. "We are in a strange place in time," Bullock says. "All of us are going through transformations … transitions. Many of us feel like trees just trying to hold onto their leaves. But, it is a time for transformation. Embracing the seasons of the heart. We have been changed. We are still changing.”

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Deep Sea Diver: Impossible Weight (feat. Sharon Van Etten)

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The title track from the third album by this Seattle-based band features guest vocal by Sharon van Etten. Consequence of Sound writes that she and bandleader Jessica Dobson "trade strong vocal performances [and] harmonize seamlessly. Dobson’s sharp guitar work crunches and buzzes beneath them, serving as another voice altogether." Dobson, who has played lead guitar for Beck and The Shins, co-produced her band's new LP. American Songwriter calls the collection "a restless mix of surprisingly catchy pop hooks, sing-along choruses and incisive indie rock with Dobson’s strong, expressive vocals careening above layered guitars, drums and keyboards." 

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Seaway: Brain in a Jar

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Known as a pop-punk band, this Ontario outfit moves a bit toward 70s/80s power pop on its fourth album, Big Vibe. AllMusic says the LP "feels like a subtle move away from the nervy punk of the band's early years and further towards a mainstream rock sophistication they've always hinted at. ... [It] builds upon everything they've done before but pushes them in a bigger, more ambitious direction." The title track is the featured single, but we're focusing on this lead-off number reminiscent of the early days of alternative rock. 

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Lauren Mann: Say It Out Loud

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We've been spinning the single "Dear Forever," and with the release of the full album Memory & Desire, we're featuring this upbeat song is about speaking one's mind. "Say it out loud like you know it's the truth / Say it out loud even if you're confused / Try to get it out from inside your head / Before it's all just miscommunication." It's one of many fine tracks on the British Columbia-based singer-songwriter's latest release, and you'll be hearing others on The Bistro and elsewhere in our mix.

Crowded House return + Wild Tibetan Monks debut + latest from Julien Baker, Eels, Blue Stragglers

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Crowded House: Whatever You Want

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Neill Finn and his band are back with their first new music in a decade. On this track, Finn and fellow founding member Nick Seymour are joined by producer/keyboardist Mitchell Froom and Neil’s sons: guitarist Liam Finn and drummer Elroy Finn. It's unclear whether they have an album in the works, but they're planning a New Zealand tour in March. This upbeat track, with the refrain "Some people will tell you whatever you want," could just be about flattery in general - but one verse suggests something darker: "Should be shouting from the mountain / At their top of their voice / 'This is not right; this man is a fake' / But they will follow him down / To the edge of the cliff / And if he tells them to jump / They will jump right in." 

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Wild Tibetan Monks: Cartoons

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We've just been introduced to this Irish indie band and its debut single. The trio formed in college in 2011, and moved in 2018 to Perth, Australia. They toured around Western Australia, playing covers, working on their own music and developing a following. This track was recorded at Rada Studios in Perth before their recent return to Dublin. (Did their travels ever take them to Tibet? Or a monastery? Unknown.) Bassist/vocalist Sean says the song deals with "the pressures of modern life ... We wanted to create a feeling, not just through the lyrics, of longing to go back to a simpler time, of sitting with someone and watching cartoons.” Australian music site The AU Review picked it as a Track of the Day last week. 

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Julien Baker: Faith Healer

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Photo by Alysse Gafkjen

Due early next year, Little Oblivions is the third album by this Memphis-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. New York Magazine's entertainment site Vulture says it features the artist's "fullest sound yet, with Baker producing the album and playing most of the instruments - which now include drums, bass, and synthesizers, along with the usual guitar and piano." Of this track, Baker says it began as "a very literal examination of addiction" and grew to touch on other forms of escapism. "I (and so many other people) are willing to believe whomever - a political pundit, a preacher, a drug dealer, an energy healer - when they promise healing."

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Eels: Are We Alright Again

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Known for dark, brooding lyrics, Mark Oliver Everett, a.k.a. E, takes a more circumspect, even optimistic approach on Earth to Dora, the 13th album from his LA-based band. Although structured as a song cycle about a love affair that breaks down, "the album is full of songs that conjure a feeling of internal hope," as a review at Louder than War puts it. "Their soft winding melodies creep inside you as E’s voice soothes and croons." Everett says the album's songs came about before the pandemic - except for this one, which he says "is kind of a quarantine daydream I desperately needed to have."

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Blue Stragglers: She

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We previously featured "Forever and a Day" from these Sussex, UK-based purveyors of "fuzzed-up, hook-laden grooved-out alt-rock," and now we're dipping back into their self-titled debut album. The lyric, with the refrain "She never makes mistakes," is the amusingly relatable lament of a man admiring a woman who's out of his league: "She's always there / Just waitin' for the right time / Waitin' for a perfect / Man, someone she'll understand / It's not you and it sure ain't me."

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New sounds from Shemekia Copeland, Caamp, Blitzen Trapper, Bad Religion, Aaron Frazer

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Shemekia Copeland: Walk Until I Ride

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Her powerful voice commands attention as this blues/r&b singer addresses social issues and matters of the heart on her 10th album, Uncivil War. The album was produced in Nashville with a top-flight cast of musicians and guest stars. This track is a civil rights anthem that has drawn comparisons to the Staples Singers. We have also featured the title single on The Detour, and you'll hear that and other tracks in our mix.

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Caamp: Officer of Love

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A year after making a mark with their debut album By and By, this indie-folk trio from Ohio is back with this languid and oddly catchy ditty. "She is an officer of love and I'll obey her every word" goes the refrain; don't ask us what the rest of the lyrics are supposed to be about. “We recorded this song on the road in the summer of 2019," the band says. "It’s a tune that’s close to our hearts and one of our favorites to play live. We hope it brings a little joy to your life. Let’s all choose love.” 

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Blitzen Trapper: Don't Let Me Run

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In a similar laid-back groove - at with lyrics at least as obscure - lies this track from Eric Earley and his band. On their new, tenth album, Holy Smokes Future Jokes, Earley explores concepts of death and rebirth and “the idea that humanity is not the center of the universe, or even the center of our own universe.” As American Songwriter puts it, "the head-scratching concepts go down easy for music that feels like a comforting warm breeze on a cool spring day.” 

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Bad Religion: What Are We Standing For

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This Los Angeles band has been blasting angry punk rock for some 40 years. Why stop now? The group says the new single is an expression of solidarity with athletes and others who have “taken a knee to protest police brutality and racism” instead of standing for the U.S. national anthem. "A counterfeit political currency / Shouldn't stand there as a patriotic call." Consequence of Sound writes that the track is an outtake from Bad Religion’s 2019 album The Age of Unreason, and would have fit nicely on that record. It’s a rollicking uptempo rocker with catchy chords and some sick pick slides — a Bad Religion staple."