by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
It’s hard to believe it but it’s been five long years since Radical Dads released their last full length, Universal Coolers. Just when we started to think their time may have come and gone, they showed life last year with a new single (“The Face of Loudness”) and now the trio are back with a new record. Paved Mountain is the bi-coastal band’s fourth album, due out on June 23rd via Uninhabitable Mansions (Annie Hart, Sat. Nite Duets, Pursesnatchers), and picks up their subtle glory, shining a light on their muscular brand of indie rock and introspective songwriting, with more than a few new tricks up their sleeve. After sharing singles “Vanishing Point” and “The Sea,” we’re excited to share their latest, “Don’t Wanna Go”.
Opening with a tattered guitar line that sounds somewhere between rust and bliss, Radical Dads kick into a quick and upbeat tempo, with notes ringing out in quick angular jabs. It’s a bop, as they say. Lindsay Baker’s vocals sit just above the twin guitar attack, her warm and welcoming voice forming in circular patterns as the band wind themselves up and down. There are a few power-pop and punk shifts, the song rapidly working through several distinct sections within it’s just over two minute runtime. Speaking about the song, Baker shared:
“It’s about the history that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick, as recounted in Nathaniel Philbrick’s book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. I got the book when I was on a trip to Nantucket — the whaling history mecca of the USA — and this story overtook my brain for a long time. It’s a gripping survival tale, even if you couldn’t care less about whales and old books.”