Black Books share video for new single ‘Goodbye Cool’

Black Books press photo

Black Books have released ‘Cheer Up,’ their first new release since 2017’s ‘Can’t Even,’. To coincide with the release, the Austin-based five-piece offered a new single and video for Goodbye Cool. Watch the video clip via YouTube below.

Cheer Up’ not only heralds the band’s first release in three yearsbut the 10th anniversary of Black Books as a band. According to bassist Mike Parker though, the band isn’t resting on its laurels with the new EP.

We wanted to push our boundaries a bit with this EP while staying true to the sound we’ve created over the past decade,” Parker says. “There’s something different here for long-time fans, and perhaps something that would attract new fans. But mostly, these songs were conceived through impromptu jams and built upon piece by piece.”

Black Books Cheer Up EP cove4 artwork

‘Cheer Up‘ tracklisting
1. In The In
2. Goodbye Cool
3. Holy Deja Vu
4. I’m Not Sure, But I’m Sorry

Black Books began out of a casual hangout amongst friends in an Austin garage one weekday in 2010.

The goal, they’ll tell you, was just to play some music and drink a few beers. Singer Ross Gilfillan originally hopped on drums, eventually grabbing the mic to also sing vocals, but the soon-to-be band had a song, White Noise, written by day’s end.

That casual productivity didn’t let up over the next decade, steamrolling into two full lengths, several EPs, millions of streams across digital platforms, and shows as far-reaching as The Roundhouse in London and as unusual as a set at Counting Crows vocalist Adam Duritz’s New York high-rise (although they may have not been formally invited… it’s kind of a long story.)

On their ‘Cheer Up’ EP, Black Books’ lightheartedly described “cosmic cowboy shoegaze” has never felt more legitimate with four songs of emotional, distortion-heavy slow burners leading to some of the band’s heaviest moments of catharsis. After personal issues hung over the recording of 2017’s ‘Can’t Even’ for Gilfillan, he attests any audible relief came about subconsciously. 

“There was no prior thought to what the songs were going to be about, but they all fit together in content,” Gilfillan adds. “[Songwriting] can be a really vulnerable process, but with this batch of songs, I feel good with where my thoughts are. This EP is me in a much better place and trying to get used to it. That’s why I liked the title ‘Cheer Up’.”