Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – “Cameo”

Nick Mckk

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – “Cameo”

Nick Mckk

Over the past couple months, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have been slowly building up to the release of their great new album, Sideways To New Italy. So far, we’ve heard a handful of singles, including “Cars In Space,” “She’s There,” and “Falling Thunder.” And now, with Sideways To New Italy finally arriving this Friday, the band are back with one more preview. It might just be the best track on the album.

“Cameo” is a surging, rushing song with an absolutely massive chorus. All of which is fitting, because it seems to come from surging, rushing feelings. “This is a love song,” singer/guitarist Fran Keaney said in a statement. “It’s about reaching through time portals. The lyrics were pieced together over about a year like a little puzzle. I found the first pieces in Rushworth, and the last pieces in Darwin.”

Maybe it always seemed like RBCF had a song like this in them, but I don’t know if they’ve ever written something so directly anthemic. When I spoke to them about Sideways To New Italy, they actually characterized “Cameo” as one of the weirder songs on the album, noting its final structure arose out of jams that, eventually, whittled it down to all the core elements we hear now. Those elements are crucial, like the chugging guitar part that comes in right before the song ratchets up into its chorus. And that chorus is, really, what makes “Cameo” stand out in RBCF’s work so far. They have no shortage of earworm melodies to their name, and some songs that do reach for this kind of height. But the chorus to “Cameo” is one of those magical things that somehow sounds more euphoric every time you hear it. Check it out below.

Sideways To New Italy is out 6/5 via Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.

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