Titus Andronicus Drops “In A Big City” Video
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If you’ve come across Titus Andronicus over the course of their first two albums, you might have found yourself a bit conflicted about something in the band’s DNA. While the band hails from New Jersey, their sound (especially on The Monitor) draws heavily from a barroom blues and country background. Granted, those elements are mixed with moments of swinging, brutal punk; but nonetheless, it catches you off-guard the first time a violin or slide guitar drops into the mix.
The band has just released the lead single, “In A Big City,” which is coming off of its new album Local Business, and it travels even further down that Americana past. “In A Big City” tells the largely autobiographical story of the band’s move from New Jersey to New York City, but with a decidedly witty twist on it all. Vocalist Patrick Stickles has long had a reputation for lyrics that are hilarious, depressing, warm, and poignant– sometimes all at once. “In A Big City” is no different; and while it’s certainly not the most immediate track the band has put out, it is an indicator that the new album is going to be a killer slab of down-home rock’n’roll.
Stickles has a unique perspective on life, and the lyrics are the first thing that grab you about the track. “I grew up on the other side of the river/I was a disturbed, dangerous drifter/Then I moved over to the other side of the river/Now I’m a drop in a deluge of hipsters,” he wails on the opening bars of the new single. There are big ideas going on in the song (black holes, nuclear war, growing up to be a grouch); but as a lyricist, he’s able to bring it down to earth. That’s where Titus succeeds more than any other band in the spotlight today. It’s so tough to stuff a song with big ideas without losing your audience. So here I go… If the debate is going to continue over who is capable of taking up Bob Dylan’s mantle, it’s not Conor Oberst, Ryan Adams, or any other acoustic guitar balladeer (no dig at either; they’re two of this generation’s finest songwriters). It’s Stickles.
The new album drops October 22, 2012. Check the video below.
