SONG PREMIERE: Air Review Meditate on Love and Loss With Synth-pop Tune “You Gotta Love Somebody”

In the holes carved by loss, love is often the only thing left. Clinging to love in these voids becomes an act of resistance against the emptiness that looms and the walls that threaten to close in. Finding hope in hardship is a mighty crusade.

When writing How We Got By, due out June 21st on Velvet Blue Music, Air Review frontman Doug Hale lost custody of a baby his family had fostered for a year. Due to a series of bureaucratic mistakes that were impossible to challenge, the child was placed with extended family that Child Protective Services had deemed unfit. “Our family was shocked and devastated,” he says. “We were mom and dad as far as he was concerned.” The child left the week after his first birthday.

Soon after, keyboardist Richard Carpenter, bassist Jeff Taylor and guitarist Dragan Jakovljevic were subsumed with varying and acute personal tragedies. Instead of quit or pause, the band continued to write songs, allowing the narrative arc of each member’s struggles to help define the lyrics and sounds of the record. Meditations on love, trauma and resilience pair with ultra melodic ’80s-influenced synth-pop, slinky R&B rhythms and sparkling guitar riffs, reflecting the panoply of emotions commensurate with loss and healing.

Writing became a form of therapy for the Dallas-based quintet, a place to share burdens and turn them into something meaningful. The process of crafting these songs became an invaluable season. Denton, Texas-based producer Matt Pence (Centro-Matic, Sara Jaffe) and East Coast producer Scott Solter (St. Vincent, Spoon) honed the overall effect, resulting in 13 tracks and a brand new, pop-focused sound for the band. At its core, the album’s a celebration of basic humanity and the many painful and heartwarming events that connect us. Air Review’s hope is that it might bring joy or clarity to others who are struggling. – Erin Osmon

Today Glide is excited to premiere “You Gotta Love Somebody”, one of the standout tracks on the album. The song is a moody piece of synth-pop that seems to dabble in a bit of a darker, more longing realm. The beat is simple but carries a sensuality that is enlightened with little slices of guitar cutting through the beat before ultimately escalating into a more expansive soundscape. Air Review have always been adept at crafting far out, electronic-oriented music, and “You Gotta Love Somebody” is perhaps the best proof that they are also skilled in the art of writing and producing pop songs. Luckily, the band’s signature electronic stylings are still fully in place with this song, making it clear that they are evolving into of taking their sound in a completely new direction.

Listen to the song below and then listen to the band’s own mini podcast about the song:

For more music and info visit Air Review on Facebook

Photo credit: Jordan Smith

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