Track Premiere: Runaway Brother—’Conscience In Tumult’
Posted: by The Editor
Photo by Alisha Uguccini
Within the wide world of made-up genre vernacular, few tags possess the specificity (and linguistic appeal) of”dreamo.” Runaway Brother sound like the mental evocation of that tag, as they meld the nasally vocal style and emotional fervor of indie-minded emo bands like The Hotelier and Oso Oso with the hazy dream-pop aesthetic of groups like Turnover and Japanese Breakfast. However, the Cleveland quartet’s forthcoming sophomore full-length, New Pocket, derives a secondary meaning from the “dream” suffix, as the record sounds like it was composed through the expansive perspective of the creative unconscious.
Runaway Brother sound like they’re intentionally fucking with the confines of the genres they’ve been, for lack of a more fitting placement, lumped into on New Pocket. Many of these tracks contain unexpected bridges and breakdowns during their final thirds, such as passages of bongo-driven lounge music, explosive saxophone outbursts, and on the album’s second track “Conscience In Tumult,” which we’re premiering today, tasteful fiddle strokes.
It’s more of a re-imagination rather than a reinvention of the wheel, which feels both necessary and refreshing during the tail-end of the contentiously defined “revival” era. In short, it’s interesting to see what a group of kids raised on, or at least inadvertently influenced by, emo’s fourth wave can do when they set out to make weird-ass pop music. It’s particularly interesting when their experiment succeeds, as “Conscience In Tumult” certainly does.
Stream it below ahead of New Pocket‘s release via Tiny Engines on 2/16:
They’re also touring the U.S. next month:
FEB 09 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
FEB 11 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Roboto
FEB 16 – Rochester, NY @ Vineyard Comm. Space
FEB 17 – Toronto, ON @ D-Beatstro
FEB 18 – Montreal, QC @ Casa De Popolo
FEB 19 – Winooski, VT @ The Monkey House
FEB 20 – Syracuse, NY @ TBA
FEB 21 – Manchester, NH @ Bungalow
FEB 22 – Attleboro, MA @ Patterson Creations
FEB 23 – West Haven, CT @ The Cave
FEB 24 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Park Brewery
FEB 25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Everybody Hits
FEB 26 – Baltimore, MD @ Sidebar
FEB 27 – Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter
FEB 28 – Charlotte, NC @ The Milestone
MAR 01 – Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
MAR 03 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
MAR 05 – Chattanooga, TN @ The Daily Rotation
MAR 06 – Nashville, TN @ Sunnyvale
MAR 09 – Oklahoma City @ House Show
MAR 10 – Albuquerque, NM @ Gold House
MAR 11 – Phoenix, AZ @ TBA
MAR 12 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
MAR 13 – Los Angeles @ The Smell
MAR 14 – Oakland, CA @ Storyville
MAR 16 – Portland, OR @ TBA
MAR 17 – Seattle, WA @ The Wormhole
MAR 18 – Boise, ID @ TBA
MAR 19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Underground
MAR 20 – Denver, CO @ 7th Circle
MAR 21 – Kansas City @ TBA
MAR 22 – Springfield, IL @ Black Sheep
MAR 23 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
MAR 24 – Fort Wayne, IN @The Brass Rail
MAR 25 – Ann Arbor @ Blind Pig
—
Eli Enis | @eli_enis
The Alternative is ad-free and 100% supported by our readers. If you’d like to help us produce more content and promote more great new music, please consider donating to our Patreon page, which also allows you to receive sweet perks like free albums and The Alternative merch.
