Look, it’s fucking 2019, and we’re still sitting here wondering how Steep Leans’ mega 2015 LP Grips On Heat wasn’t recognized as one of the best albums to come out of our sleepy-ass town in years. But hey, that’s fine, Boston gonna Boston, and we’re past the point of making excuses. Because here at Vanyaland we brush aside excuses for opportunity, and now Steep Leans’ Gray Somers is loading up a new album set for your enjoyment this summer.
It’s called Naukeag, it hits June 28 via Ghost Ramp, and its first offering is a cruising bit of damaged pop called “Paralyzed//Youthanized.” Listen to it below, and soak it in before it soaks you in.
No stranger to deriving inspired melody from the fucked up world around us, Somers describes this new joint, double slashes and all, as “essentially a critique on what I find annoying about my generation, a.k.a. the millennial generation.” He adds: “It’s really sort a tongue-in-cheek, shit-talking song, about trying to find a semblance of authenticity in a pop media and selfie-saturated landscape.”
Word.