Desoto Jones send a ‘Get Well’ card to rock you into next week
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- November 10, 2022
Rock & roll is alive and well, ladies and gents. Philadelphia-based alt rock band, Desoto Jones, have recently released their latest single ‘Get Well’ to tickle your earholes. Signed by Revolver Records (Sister Sledge, The Stone Roses & Misfits having previously been in their roster), they’re edging toward their latest album release – Regenerator – on 4th November.
I’m almost kicking myself that I haven’t had them on my radar – they’ve been going strong since 2004 & have altered their musical style from the pop punk / emo movement of the late 00s & early 2010s to a rough American rock vibe akin to the Foo Fighters. (And not to dismiss the pop punk movement – I’ve been a fully signed up member since Paramore released Riot! and will probably binge their back catalogue when I’m in need of teenage nostalgia)
The upcoming album came from ‘revisiting old demos though a new lens’ – in this post-pandemic world, I feel like I am just now stitching back parts of my life that became fractured during the past two years. Some of the best work comes from leaving art to ‘cool down’ and then re-record, so I’m excited to delve into this new, regenerated album (see what I did there? I’m here all week…).
But we’re not here to extol the virtues or speculate what is to come. Oh no. We’re here to discuss one thing, and one thing only; Get Well.
Think early 90s grunge/rock with heavy guitar riffs & smouldering, wistful tenor over the top. There’s a gruffness to lead singer Owen Staszewski’s voice, building in intensity until the chorus comes in, crescendo & angst & worry all in one rock package. We end on an unfinished candance; things have not resolved themselves musically, leading us wanting more (perhaps even daring us to hit ‘repeat’).
The video manages to capture their emotional disorientation with the blue filter creating a haze over the band. We have changes of colour matching the intensity of the music, building until the point of climax – but not quite, they’ll leave you wanting more this time around.
Having listened to their other tracks – Always Running, for example, gives me All American Rejects vibes – they play on darker themes & have a heavier, rock melody (with a meatier line for the bass guitar, which I really enjoy). We’ve got lines hinting at unresolved trauma and regret, such as: ‘pick apart the concept of a life well spent / put it back together in the dark / looking glass is flipped and now the only thing you see is your shadow’. There’s shift after the bridge – a moment of peace – until the sea of torment washes over & over, with the repetition of the chorus; ‘we might never get well, we might never come back from the downslide’.
It’s a song to have on in your car, full blast, and be caught screaming out the lyrics by other people at a red light, looking confused at your intense & slightly pained rock face (probably out of tune; the harmony line that comes in on the second verse does some impressive vocal gymnastics). ‘Get Well’ is everything you want & need from a rock song; I hope they continue down this road of heavier rock riffs with their upcoming album, Regenerator.
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