Los Angeles’ Massage (ex-The Pains of Being Pure At Heart) has shared the latest, and final single, lifted from their forthcoming album, ‘Still Life’. Listen to At the End of the World via Bandcamp below.
“This Massage LP better not sell out before I get paid, though admittedly, it should definitely be on everyone’s radar. The latest single has this wistful vibe, something akin to a movie scene where the passenger stares longingly out a window hoping/praying for a better day than today…or at least that’s how I’m hearing it,” says Nathan Langford of Austin Town Hall. “Plus, the jangles and the synths give the song this wash that sounds incredibly similar to Another Sunny Day’s ‘You Should All Be Murdered,’ and that is 100% reason alone to steam this song and tap your toes. I mean, how many great songs can this band write? We’re going to find out when ‘Still Life’ drops.”
On their sophomore effort,Massage manage to take a quantum leap forward in songwriting, production, and depth, all without seeming to try. These 12 deft songs are full of late-summer sunlight and deep shadows, pained grins and shared jokes, shy declarations of love and quietly nursed heartbreak. ‘Still Life’ resurrects a brief, romantic moment in the late-’80s, right after post-punk and immediately before alt-rock, when it seemed like any scrappy indie band might stumble across a hit.
The kind of music Massage makes—sunny, bittersweet, tender—is less a proper genre than a minor zip code nested within guitar pop. Take a little There She Goes by the La’s, some If You Need Someone by the Field Mice; the honey-drizzled guitars from The Cure’s Friday I’m In Love, a Jesus & Mary Chain backbeat, and you’re almost all the way there. Indie pop, jangle pop, power pop—whatever you call it, pushing too hard scares the spirit right out of this sweet, diffident music, and Massage have a touch so light the songs seem to form spontaneously, like wry smiles
‘Still Life’ sees release via Mt.St.Mtn in partnership with Bobo Integral (Spain) and Tear Jerk Records (Australia) on August 7 (barring pressing plant delays). It is available on coke bottle green vinyl and will be distributed worldwide by Revolver USA and Cargo UK.
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