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I don’t think I’ve actually mentioned it explicitly on my site anywhere, but I consider Deer Tick to be my favorite band of all time. I don’t listen to them as much as I did a few years ago (I used to listen to their whole albums over and over), but I don’t skip their songs very often. I found them after watching an episode of “Son’s of Anarchy” and their song “Goodbye, Dear Friend” played. Google play music (at the time) started playing radios with more of their songs, and I was hooked. My favorite songs of theirs are probably “Sea of Clouds” and “Don’t Hurt” of off their albums “Deer Tick Vol. 1” and “Deer Tick Vol. 2” respectively. They also play my favorite cover of all time of “Unwed Fathers” by John Prine, which is just outstanding if you haven’t heard it.
Anyway, that’s to say I keep up with them and this is a big deal! Today they announced a new album called “Emotional Contracts” set to come out on June 16th and released 2 songs from the album! The songs are called “Forgiving Ties” which was accompanied with a video, and “The Real Thing”.
Deer Tick’s sound has changed over each of their albums pretty drastically. They are not afraid to do things differently than they have before, and that have been done by others before, which are some of the reasons I love them so much. They seem like they are gonna keep that up for this new album. Although none of their records really sound the same, “Forgiving Ties” is the most “Deer Tick” out of the 2 new singles. It’s upbeat, and has Ian O’Neil on vocals with the rest of the band coming in throughout the song, and reminds me of their other song “Mr. Nothing Gets Worse”. “The Real Thing” is a lot slower and gravely with John McCauley singing it, it’s also the longer of the 2 at exactly 9 minutes long. I think out of the 2 I prefer “Forgiving Ties”, but both are awesome. The song “If She Could Only See Me Now” will also be on the album, which appeared on their “Live From Fort Adams” album from 2020. It’s a good song. This one is sorta boppy and is a big middle finger to the girl he’s talking about, and how he’s doing better now that she’s gone. I’m glad it’ll be getting a studio version.
They’ve also posted tour dates for the album, but the closest one to me is in a different state, so I may have to do some traveling to go see them. I was robbed of seeing them in 2021 because the venue either changed their vaccination policies or didn’t advertise them well enough, and I didn’t have enough time to get it done. I was so bummed.
If you aren’t sure who Deer Tick is, or you’re just curious go listen to them! John McCauley also has a few side projects like Middle Brother (I think they are disbanded unfortunately, but this band will introduce you to Dawes which is a phenomenal band as well), Diamond Rugs, as well as some solo stuff. Ian O’Neil also has a few solo albums which are really good as well.