The Hold Steady announce eighth album with lead single "Family Farm"
The Hold Steady have returned with news of their eighth studio album Open Door Policy, and have unveiled "Family Farm" as the first taster of the album.
"Family Farm" is the band's first new outing since sharing their previously unreleased "Separate Vacations" in October as part of the 10th anniversary reissue of Heaven Is Whenever.
Singer and guitarist Craig Finn says of the lead single, "Songs are created a bunch of different ways in The Hold Steady, but to me, our most classic songs are driving rock songs with piano breaks. "Family Farm" fits the bill. The genesis of the song was the guitar riff that starts the song. Tad Kubler played a home demo for me and our producer Josh Kaufman, and we thought it was worth pursuing. At this point it had the working title "August". We brought it to the band and Franz had the idea for the bridge. This seemed like a "scene change" of sorts, and gave the song more depth and intrigue."
Finn adds, "We recorded it in December 2019 at the Clubhouse in upstate NY, just after our annual run of shows at the Brooklyn Bowl. Our friends Stuart Bogie and Jordan McLean added horns a bit later. I was personally happy to get a mention of Van Halen’s "Eruption" in the lyrics, and I appreciate it even more after Eddie Van Halen’s unfortunate recent passing. Overall, it feels like a song that will be fun to play live - uptempo, dynamic and a chorus with shout along potential."
Open Door Policy will follow The Hold Steady's 2019 album Thrashing Thru The Passion, and was recorded with producer Josh Kaufman and engineer D. James Goodwin.
Finn says of their new album, "Open Door Policy was very much approached as an album vs. a collection of individual songs, and it feels like our most musically expansive record. This album was written and almost entirely recorded before the pandemic started, but the songs and stories explore power, wealth, mental health, technology, capitalism, consumerism, and survival – issues which have compounded in 2020."
Tracklist:
- The Feelers
- Spices
- Lanyards
- Family Farm
- Unpleasant Breakfast
- Heavy Covenant
- The Prior Procedure
- Riptown
- Me & Magdalena
- Hanover Camera
- Parade Days
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