by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
New York City’s Ian Davis: Rock Band is… well, a rock band, but more importantly, it’s a collective and friends and individuals close to songwriter Ian Davis’ heart. As a member of Mushfoot, Relatives, and Cassandra Jenkins’ band, Davis has developed an impressive catalog that veers between psych pop and art folk, while also establishing himself as an in demand composer, arranging for Feist, Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear), and Kazu Makino (Blonde Redhead), among others. He’s now turning his attention back to his band as they get to release their sophomore album Alternate/Opposite on November 22nd via Figure & Ground. The record expands on the framework of his first album, moving away from the focus on synths into a swarming power-pop glow, creating maximalist pop that’s as dreamy as it is fuzzy.
Having already shared lead single “Something New,” Ian Davis: Rock Band pulls us deeper into the sunshine glue of the record with “Sub Rosa,” a song influenced by Star Trek of all things. Together with his all-star band, which includes members of Renata Zeiguer, Adeline Hotel, Amen Dunes, Chris Cohen, Sam Evian, and beyond, Davis is making tape warbling pop that sparkles with a breezy disorientation, yet feels grounded in this plane of existence. “Sub Rosa” is a light jaunt of syrupy hook filled bliss, an easy fried-folk tune with garage pop muscle, jangling and hazy, charmed and surrealist. The video, directed by Isaac Gillespie (The Due Diligence), takes us on a moonlit skateboard ride through the park with layers of kaleidoscopic filters to set the atmosphere just right.