When you hear a poppy punk tune that’s laced with mandolin, you’d be right in guessing that song was probably written in or near Boston. While there’s no scientific way to test that rule, that guess is correct in the case of the Boston folk-punk outfit Drunken Logic. In another tip of the hat to Boston tropes, they’ve titled their new album Long Day’s Journey to the Middle, which has the benefit of referencing both a fine play by Eugene O’Neill and evoking the worn out barroom aesthetic that is so common in the band’s native city.
To get a sense of what’s coming on the album, below you can stream lead single “(The Good News Is) No One Gives a Damn”, an energetic number that should prove perfect in helping shake off the winter doldrums currently plaguing New England.
The band tells PopMatters about the tune, “This song is about misadventures in nightlife that ultimately result in running into God at a bar, and the realization that, while you may not be very special or meet your own expectations, there is a liberation that comes from the knowledge that everyone else is too self-centered and preoccupied to notice your own flaws. It’s upbeat and irreverent, like The Fratellis with mandolin, both darkly funny and celebratory.”
Long Day’s Journey to the Middle, which is being self-released by the band, is out 14 April.