It’s new song city for Jeff Rosenstock fans, as two new songs from the heavily-anticipated new album We Cool? have been released to stream exclusively on various sites. The first, called “You In Weird Cities”, does a great job of capturing the energy found in ASOB/early BTMI! material while showcasing a style of songwriting that has matured while still maintaining it’s basic characteristics. The track is available to stream and download on Purevolume. Describing the song to the site, Rosenstock revealed
“I’ve had this song kicking around for a few years now, mostly because lyrically it felt like too much of a downer … Being a musician definitely sets you on a weird life path away from a lot of the things 95% of the world deems as forward momentum, and yeah, you’re broke most of the time. In exchange for financial stability or whatever though, I’ve made friends with some amazing people who I think make incredible music — the best music. And whenever I want, I can put on a Sidekicks record and think about Matt Sandler working in a gas station in Columbus, or the Sharkanoid record and think about Rick Johnson recording weird shit in Grand Rapids. At the risk of sounding totally fucking cliché, music just helps me feel less alone.”
While “You In Weird Cities” is a certified banger, the second new released track “Beers Again Alone” is certainly a more reserved track with ample slide guitar and lush vocal harmonies. The song sees Jeff slowing things down a bit for a sing-along drinking anthem that, like “Nausea” (video below) is reminiscent of “Go On Get“, the b-side from Jeff’s 2013 Summer EP. Stream the track on SideOneDummy Record’s Soundcloud page.
In all, this album looks to be another great release to add to the roster of Jeff’s nearly two decade career. A press release sent out for the album states that
“We Cool? serves as a much-needed alternative to the over-bloated rock star faux-indie bullshit that seems to be overwhelming today’s music scene. The album is loaded with undeniable power pop anthems from start to finish that will make you dance around your living room while simultaneously causing you to have an internal emotional breakdown.” (Source)
which, if we’re being honest, could describe a good amount of Jeff’s other projects (in a good way). We Cool? is being put out by SideOneDummy Records, and preorders are still available here.
And for completionist purposes, check out “Nausea” and “Hey Allison!”, the other two tracks released so far from the LP, below. I’m guessing that will be it in terms of new tracks until the full album is released in less than two weeks, so I’ll catch y’all on March 3rd when We Cool? is released and Jeff heads to Reddit for an AMA!
You can also catch Jeff at The Royale on March 21st for the Boston stop of his tour with Andrew Jackson Jihad, The Smith Street Band, and Chumped. Tickets are available here, and check the show calendar for more shows in the area.
Jeff Rosenstock – We Cool?:
1. “Get Old Forever”
2. “You, In Weird Cities”
3. “Novelty Sweater”
4. “Nausea”
5. “Beers Again Alone”
6. “I’m Serious, I’m Sorry”
7. “Hey Allison!”
8. “Polar Bear or Africa”
9. “Hall of Fame”
10. “All Blissed Out”
11. “The Lows”
12. “Darkness Records”