When we first learned that Nation of Language were going out on tour and taking Ducks Ltd. with them for a handful of dates, we cheered across the heavens. But sadness quickly set in when we looked at the itinerary and saw the rising Toronto/Australia jangle-pop duo were not part of Nation of Language’s upcoming March 4 show at Brighton Music Hall.
The bumout period has ended, however, with the colorful glow of new single “Sheets of Grey.” The track, which recalls the glorious indie guitar-pop bounce of a decade ago, wasn’t included on Ducks Ltd.’s breakout 2021 album Modern Fiction; instead getting the standalone single release treatment today (January 27) via Carpark Records. And it goes back a ways.
“This song is actually one of the oldest in our catalog,” says singer/guitarist Tom McGreevy. “We wrote it around the same time as [2019 EP] Get Bleak, or maybe a little bit after, and played it live a bunch, but never quite finished it. We kept poking at it for a long time until we finally got it to where we wanted it to be, which happened during the Modern Fiction sessions. We ended up leaving it off the record as it didn’t quite thematically fit with the other songs, but I’m excited we’re finally getting to put it out as I’ve always liked it.”
McGreevy adds: “It’s about the inertia of depression, and how hard it can be to break out of those cycles, but also about the pleasure of embracing that state. There is a certain, temporary comfort to be found in the abyss! Somewhere right before it inevitably becomes extremely awful.”
Like seeing your new favorite band isn’t coming to town with your other new favorite band. Or something.