It’s hard to put the feeling of returning home after a prolonged absence into words, especially without relying on the term “nostalgia” to do most of the heavy lifting. There’s no other feeling like running into people you haven’t seen in five-plus years seemingly FaceApped into near unrecognizability or landmarks replaced with chain restaurants, leaving you with the general sense that nothing’s quite as you left it.
Yet this is the exact energy—or lethargy—behind Molly Drag, a solo project at the forefront of the new wave of, well, nostalgic slowcore acts. On his latest single, “Charlotte,” Michael Hansford directly addresses this sensation, finding inspiration in his hometown of Midland, Ontario. “‘Charlotte’ is about where you were born, your hometown, the nostalgia that will always live there,” he says. “I come from a small town that’s easy to get stuck in—luckily that did not happen to me, but I still have a strange relationship with Midland. There’s a lot of love, but also sickness and pain. It’s a feeling that’s so very hard to explain. Your hometown is something that you carry with you, but also carried you.”
Over gentle post-rock guitar and a MIDI drum beat, a melancholy Hansford whispers lyrics about broken homes, religious songs, and the relatable pins-and-needles feeling that greets you upon arriving home (it’s not all bad news—Touchstone’s cover was painted by Hansford’s high school art teacher, who he recently reconnected with). Listen to the track and see upcoming tour dates below.
Touchstone is out October 4 via EggHunt Records. You can preorder it here.
Molly Drag Tour Dates:
10.09 Philadelphia, PA @ Haus of Yarga *
10.10 Baltimore, MD @ The Crown
10.11 Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
10.12 Charlottesville, VA @ The Tea Bazaar
10.13 Harrisonburg, VA @ Golden Pony
10.14 Richmond, VA @ The Camel
10.15 Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor
10.16 Asheville, NC @ Odditorium
10.17 Atlanta, GA @ The Bakery
10.18 Athens, GA @ TBA
10.19 Birmingham, AL @ The Firehouse
10.21 Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s
10.22 New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
10.23 Nashville, TN @ Cobra
10.24 Louisville, KY @ Kaiju
10.25 Cincinnati, OH @ The Comet
10.27 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean (downstairs)
10.28 Columbus, OH @ Tree Bar
10.29 Lakewood, OH @ Mahalls 20 Lanes
10.30 Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
11.01 Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville
