It’s been all quiet on the Motion City Soundtrack front for a minute, save for a run of tour dates earlier in the year to punctuate their reformation. However today all of that changes, with the beloved emo troupe sharing ‘Crooked Ways’, their first hit of new material in since 2015’s Panic Station.
Though the band did release Panic Station five years ago, ‘Crooked Ways’ marks the first offering of original material from the current line up since 2012 on account of Tony Thaxton returning to the fold for the first time since ‘Go’, released that year.
Word on the net is the track leaked earlier in the week, but has since received an official launch via the band’s channels, including Apple Music and Spotify, even though at the time of publish information around the jam is scarce; like, for example, if this is the first offering from a larger body of work. Rest assured, when that changes, we’ll let you know.
For now, we have the song to fuss and fawn over and that’s more than enough. With a unintrusive song bed of flickering guitar work skipping across a tight but scattered beat, ‘Crooked Ways’ allows for frontman Justin Pierre to wax philosophical, cramming as many hyperactive thoughts into the mix as the time signature will allow.
It’s a formula that they’ve played with since their 2003 debut I Am The Movie, which cemented them a place high atop the mantle of alternative acts who can do no wrong – even with a 5 year gap between outings.
Per the band’s Spotify, the new single has been released through their own record label, Boombox Generation, which the band established close to 10 years prior. Around about the time of their reunion tour, Pierre seemed eager to not get ahead of himself, telling AltPress at the time that “we’re doing a tour, and there’s nothing beyond that. That doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be.”
We can now read that as “there definitely will be, hell yes”
