Hold Steady fans won’t have to wait much longer to hear Heaven Is Whenever, the band’s mustache-free followup to Stay Positive. Craig Finn’s said the provocatively titled album’s about “embracing suffering and understanding its place in a joyful life,” that “the lyrics speak a lot about struggle and reward.” Fairly general, but things get more specific on “Hurricane J,” aka “Hurricane Jess,” aka “Hurricane Jessie,” aka a girl who’s named after a storm not a saint, aka a girl who’s “gonna crash into the harbor this summer.” Natural disasters as the people surrounding you. (Or the people you want surrounding you.) Of course, there are also good lines (“You’re a beautiful girl / And you’re a pretty good waitress / But Jessie, I don’t think I’m the guy”) and an anthemic chorus.
Heaven Is Whenever is out 5/4 via Vagrant.
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I cannot wait.
Chalk up yet one more hand-themed album cover.
Low, Spiritualized, Spoon, Stars, SoaD…
As a long time Hold Steady fan, I gotta say…. this kinda sucks. I’m really hoping this album isn’t a complete disappointment.
agreed
This is disappointing. Generic.
I disagree. I think this is great. I wasn’t a big “Stay Positive” fan, I’m really looking forward to seeing if they can win me back with this one. He’s still one of my favorite lyricists.
This is a spectacular, spectacular tune. In love after one listen. Nicolay’s absence is a shame, but this is leaner than anything off of Stay Positive. I will now play it for a second time immediately.
i like it more after a second listen (this time with better headphones) but this seams more power-pop oriented and less an amalgamation of punk and classic rock. It’s all a little softer – the muted rhythm guitar, Craig seams to be trying to actually sing instead of spitting all over the place. I hope the rest of the album rocks a little harder.
Why is anyone dissing this song? That’s a crapload of characterization and story for barely 3 minutes! This and “Rock Problems” pop into my head at all hours of the day; the HIW songs so far are as infectious as anything in the THS canon.
seriously this song is ridiculously catchy. how can people not like this if they liked either of the last two hold steady albums? those things are power pop / bruce springsteen out the ass.
The Hold Steady are awesome- there is a much better version of this song on Youtube done acoustic, this version okay the one done for Serious radio on Youtube is amazing check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEU_2WSLJEE&feature=related