The Stills are back with a third record, the ominously titled Oceans Will Rise, some bad-ass cover art (above), and a killer first single. We first heard "Being Here" last summer in Prospect Park. Its chorus was so inspired by the arena-rock sound of U2 (later force fed paint-thinner and called Angels and Airwaves) that my friend Chuck sent me a text that read: "who the fuck do they think they are? U2?" It was close approximation but it wasn't meant as insult. I think.
"Being Here" is big. It won't crack radio but you can still spin it in your car/iPod/life this summer and appreciate the fact that The Stills have taken another step in their development. They've done a post-punk record, Logic Will Break Your Heart and killed it. They've done an Americana-inspired, seemingly private second album, Without Feathers. And it was good. And now they're moving on and up. When we saw them this winter, they weren't using stage lights - just bare florescent bulbs. They were wearing all black on stage. It seemed to say, "yeah, so we're not going to fuck around anymore." I guess if you take enough shit for your second album, eventually you get angry and decide to level people on your third try. This is a band ready to play bigger venues. This is a band sick of hearing about their line-up changes. This a band on a mission.
Record drops August 19 but you can hear these two songs until then:
Listen ::
The Stills - "Being Here"
The Stills - "Rooibos/Palm Wine Drinkard"
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