There’s a wonderful sense of pride and purpose that flows through the music of Dear Boy. It’s easy to get caught up in genre affiliations or play the lazy reference game with the Los Angeles band, but what pulls us in to the world of Dear Boy is the same type of emotive undertow that draws us back to the things we love most about the ’80s and ’90s, and that’s more about how a song makes us feel rather than what it reminds us of. Last week, Dear Boy released a new single and video for “Say When,” and it’s another transportive, romantic tune that wears its intent like a genre, and another stylized approach to an age-old notion of allowing music to be the vehicle that stirs up something from within.
“‘Say When’ is about not knowing what you want, but convincing yourself you know who you want it with,” says Dear Boy’s Ben Grey. “When we find someone in life, we’re undoubtedly still finding ourselves, trying to control our connections rather than letting them be what they are. Loving someone for real means truly seeing them. Beyond the blur.”
This new one will be featured on Dear Boy’s forthcoming debut album, set for release sometime in 2022 via Last Gang Records.
“This was the last song written for our album,” Grey adds. “We started working on it during our first few weeks as a band and didn’t finish it until the last few weeks of recording. The song will always feel like the beginning of something new.”
And that’s an emotion that will always resonate.
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