In many ways, Generationals’ forthcoming album Heatherhead is a full-circle moment taking their sound back to the one established on their lively 2009 debut Con Law a decade and a half ago. Yet in revisiting that sound from the perspective of 14 years in the future, the distance afforded by the interim years—both personally and as musicians—lends the new LP a sense of maturity that redirects any flaws plaguing their first go at releasing music.
While he may not have had Con Law in mind, the band’s Ted Joyner cites this maturity as the gas that fuels one of their latest singles, “Eutropius (Give Me Lies)”—a funked-out falsetto epic looking back on the anxieties and arrogance of young adulthood (“let’s call it a quarter-life crisis-type energy,” Joyner says). “It's that younger version of you—or maybe just me—that you want to grab by the shoulders and scream, ‘You’re getting it all wrong!,’” he shares. “But you grow older and slowly you start to forgive the idiot you were for how dumb and lost they were. I think that’s what these lyrics mainly are about—that relief of finally having enough distance to see your younger self for who they were, and kind of finally getting over it.”
Along with “Eutropius,” Generationals are also sharing another new single called “Hard Times for Heatherhead,” which the LP’s producer Nick Krill sees as the nocturnal counterpart to the other track’s sunshine demeanor. “‘Hard Times for Heatherhead’ feels more like an inward reflection,” he notes. “In contrast to ‘Eutropius,’ this song feels like the nighttime, and the city. The sonics make me think of lights reflecting off of wet pavement, and steam coming out of subway vents… Both songs have a drive and momentum to them, but I love how there’s a contrast between the two tunes and that in each song the energy seems to evoke different feelings and different settings.”
Both singles are available to stream below ahead of Heatherhead’s release on June 2 via Polyvinyl. You can pre-save the album here, and catch the band on their North American tour at the dates listed on their website.
