GospelbeacH has been kicking for a decade at this point, forming back in 2014 as Brent Rademaker began shifting his attention away from fronting the paisley-country collective Beachwood Sparks following the release of 2012’s The Tarnished Gold. Now four records deep, the new project will be releasing album number five in April, with Wiggle Your Fingers shaping up to join the same wave of sunshine-pop nostalgia The Lemon Twigs and labelmates Uni Boys have been riding—not to mention helping to further resuscitate the image of the late Tom Petty, who seems nearly as popular now as he was 30 years ago due to the recognition of his influence.
Today GospelbeacH is sharing the two-part second single from the upcoming record. “The Dropouts” is a giddy heartland-pop cut before, suddenly, it’s not—the track shifts tone in its final act as the lyrics shift perspective from looking toward revolution to what could’ve been. “‘There goes your reputation down the hall with your best friend,’” Rademaker shares, reciting a poignant line from the track. “True tales from the high school halls in 4/4 time with a bubblegum bounce. Part two is pure Valley of the Dolls.”
Diving deeper into the lyrics, he adds that the track is “kinda about how divorce affects junior high school kids. It can toughen you up and you start getting into rock ’n’ roll and then, for me, punk rock. We stole the drumbeat from ‘Strutter’ by KISS, which was my first concert after my folks split up and things got crazy.”
Check out the visual for the track below, and pre-order Wiggle Your Fingers before it lands April 26 via Curation Records here.
