Song Premiere: The Carolyn – “LBB”
Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
Photo by Hunter Newell
The Carolyn dropped the incredible Rhythm of My Own Decay last summer, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pop-punk record that took the tempos of early Joyce Manor, the heartland punk of the Menzingers, and the self-deprecation of Spanish Love Songs and turned it all into something that felt fresh. Nearly exactly a year later they’ll be releasing a follow-up EP, the three-track Harmful History. They’ve already let fans in on a listen to their cover of The Cranberries’ classic “Salvation,” and today we’re stoked to premiere the EP’s explosive, bite-sized opener “LBB.” In less than two minutes, it shows off everything there is to love about the Atlanta three-piece. Check out the song and read a brief Q&A with singer/guitarist Andrew Patrick below.
What is it about “Salvation” that made you want to cover that song?
It’s probably our favorite song by The Cranberries. The video definitely made an impression on me as a kid, and for whatever reason the chorus is still stuck in my head. I think the motifs really translate to our style of “punk.”
This EP is slated to drop almost a year to the day of when Rhythm of My Own Decay came out. How did the writing of these two new tracks compare to the writing sessions for that record?
The process was similar, but maybe it was a bit more siloed? If memory serves, “LBB” and “Harmful History” were written while Rhythm of My Own Decay was being mixed and they were finished pretty quickly on behalf of myself and [singer/bassist] Oli [Conlon], respectively. The former was more or less complete in the demo phase, and the latter had a few minor structure changes that came together as a group. In short, a lot of LP 2 was analyzed together in the practice space, whereas this EP kinda wrote itself in separate locations.
“LBB” stands for low bandwidth brain. What was the genesis behind that song and that idea?
Musically speaking, it was business as usual: strumming acoustic guitar and humming random gibberish over it until the best melody is stumbled upon. Lyrically speaking, there were a variety of things I tried to examine. I think there’s always going to be an element of regret and self critique in the lyrics because it’s how we deal with stuff. “LBB” in particular is definitely about being less than proud of yourself, but also accepting shortcomings and realizing things work out regardless of how flawed you, your friends, your family, etc are. I think I was trying to highlight the fact that much of the time we are at the mercy of our mental illnesses and easily overwhelmed, thus the chorus lyrics.
Why did you decide to title the EP Harmful History?
There wasn’t a ton of thought as far as naming the EP goes. If memory serves, I heard the track, said the title out loud, and thought “Oh shit, yeah, we’re going with that.” Much like “LBB,” the track examines a lot, namely failed relationships. The EP title also seems apt given everything we’ve dealt with both in and outside of the band; in a sense it feels like a love letter to the last 12 months we’ve had.
Harmful History is out June 9th on 59x Records.
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Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
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