There used to be some old adage about how the best arena rock bands from the ’70s could play huge stadiums every night and still connect with every fan, from ones within eye contact in the first few rows to those in the cheap seats up in the balcony by the rafters. It was the result of both performance and song; an ability to entertain and enthrall in a live setting, and fall back on the familiarity of melodies and lyrics that led the people in the audience to buy the ticket in the first place.
I’m often reminded of that each time Lowell rock band Western Education release a new single. From debut synth-pop buzzsaw “Young Love” to the majestic “All I Am” to the razor-sharp noir-pop rip of “Rivals,” Western Education don’t write songs, they write anthems that overflow with ambition and grandeur. They’re a band that’s currently releasing a greatest hits record in real-time, with nods to the Killers and Pet Shop Boys along the way to crystallizing a gigantic, arena-ready sound.
With two EPs and a one-off single already in their two-year-old sonic arsenal, Western Education today announced their debut LP, Let Your Secrets Out, set to synth up the summertime on July 8.
“This record is us not holding back,” frontman Greg Alexandropoulos tells Vanyaland. “Every chorus is gigantic, every song will get you up off your feet, and will excite you. There are no filler tracks, no dead weight. We have created an album that I sincerely hope will inspire.”
The album’s record release goes down on July 5 — right in the middle of the three-day Independence Day weekend — at the Middle East Downstairs with Twin Berlin, the Susan Constant, the Life Electric, and Barricades. (Western Education shared the stage with those last two bands at this year’s Rock and Roll Rumble; the first two are also Rumble vets).
To celebrate the new record, Western Education today dropped the album’s first single and opening track, “Peace.” It picks up where “Rivals” left off.
“It is the most personal Western Education song to me,” adds Alexandropoulos. “In my opinion, it is both the most sad, and one of the most danceable songs in our collection.”
Get your Ultravox on and fire it up below.
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