The opening melodies of Bart’s “Don’t Push” immediately transported this listener back to 2011 and Destroyer’s gorgeous Kaputt album.
It’s a testament to saxophonist Joseph Shabason’s signature sound—featured heavily all over Kaputt—which at the time heralded an unironic return to a particular ’70s soft-rock sound that was being heard across indie rock (see Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti’s Before Today).
Shabason’s distinctive sax sound permeates “Don’t Push,” invoking similar imagery of breezy pop singles saturating suburban summer afternoons in 1974. “Don’t Push” plays out more like a deep album cut, thick with instrumental passages and lush, layered vocals. It bridges the gap between early ’70s AM radio gold and the more expansive, experimental FM side of the same time period.
“‘Don’t Push’ came from feeling as though I had lost something that I never really had,” explained Bart member Chris Shannon. “Although lyrically it seems to allude to a romantic relationship, while writing it I was thinking of love, opportunity, money, normality, and comfort. A lament on not taking what life gives you, whatever it is, for whatever reason.”
The song, which debuts today, is the first single from Today, Tomorrow, & the Next Day, the upcoming new Bart album that’s slated to drop May 10 via Idee Fixe. It follows the Toronto band’s 2016 debut, Holomew. Today, Tomorrow, & the Next Day is available for pre-order here. Listen to “Don’t Push” below.
