Pope
Setting forth on a tour with Young Jesus (via the dates featured below), Pope’s own Matthew Seferian, Alejandro Skalany & Atticus Lopez just announced the follow-up to their 2015 album Fiction with word that the new album True Talent Champion will be available November 3 via Community Records. Donating a dollar with every sale of the new record to the T.E.J.A.S. Harvey Fund, the trio graces us with two singles featured off the upcoming album with a listen to “Talk Me Out of It” & “David Caspian”.
“Talk Me Out of It” is the first of two singles off True Talent Champion that ponders making better life decisions with some of the most perfect batch of blazing guitars. In fact, Pope’s “Talk Me Out of It” is one of the best scuzz singles to arrive in the new autumn season that blends harmonies seamlessly with softly sung expression that extend from the heart. “David Caspian” rages with power pop perfection that illustrates artifices afforded by 90s ripped denim affinities. Incorporating synths amid a maelstrom of skronk-spitting guitars; Pope keeps everything riding keenly on all rhythmic rails where the meanest ripping guitars are still executed with a sense of tidy neatness & more.
Pope was kind enough to provide the following exclusive inside look at the stories behind the new songs “David Caspian” & “Talk Me Out of It”:
“David Caspian”
“David Caspian” was one of the first songs we wrote after our first full length Fiction came out. It stays pretty true to the sound of the album while trying to be a more thought out, fuller song that communicated the vision of the band’s sound better. The song also came about when there was a lot of song delegating between Pope and our other band, Donovan Wolfington, so things were being written in a particular style to fit a particular band. This song is still very grungy, poppy, fuzzy, but it is also the first time we ever included synthesizers in a song (done by Tyler Scurlock of Shark’s Teeth). Julia Steiner of Ratboys also provided some additional vocals on the track.
“Talk Me Out of It”
Pope has always been a place where we’ve felt pretty comfortable being dramatic, bleak, and graphic with communicating emotions and thoughts as images. More than any other project we might be involved with. It may be because we’ve all known each other for almost 10 years, Matt and Atticus almost their whole lives, and we are past the point of judgment. There’s just a lot of trust in the ideas everyone brings to the table. “Talk Me Out of It” is a pretty good example of that. On the surface its a song about irresponsible driving and creating catastrophe, but its also a song about dreaming, a song about moving through life with your head down, its a song about making excuses, its a song about confidence, love, and also a song about giving up entirely. Its also a good example of a new sound direction we were moving towards, trying to be more dynamic, using quiet and clean parts to create some different kinds of tension.
Catch Pope on the following tour dates with Young Jesus:
September
28 New Orleans, LA – Hi Ho Lounge
October
02 Raleigh, NC – Slim’s
03 Washington, DC – 453 Florida
04 Baltimore, MD – Haebler Chapel
05 NYC – The Gate Way
06 Middletown, CT – Wesleyan University
07 Philadelphia, PA – TBA
08 Boston, MA – The Middle East
09 New Brunswick, NJ – House show
10 Colombus, OH – Middle Earth
11 Kalamazoo, MI – TBA
12 Chicago, IL – Quenchers
15 Yorkville, IL – The Law Office
16 Davenport, IA – Raccoon Motel
17 St, Louis, MI – Dugan
18 Nashville, TN – Drkmttr Collective
20 Austin, TX – TBA
