New Jersey born, New York grown, Nashville-based couple The Grahams have carved out new artistic paths with their third record, Kids Like Us, which was producer-legend Richard Swift’s last project before his death in 2018. With stellar songwriting and bold arrangements, the new record is a love letter to the timeless pop albums Alyssa and Doug grew up with, harkening back to a time when Brian Wilson, Nancy Sinatra, Dusty Springfield, The Ronettes, and Diana Ross & The Supremes ruled the airwaves.
Alyssa and Doug have been performing together since they were teenagers growing up in the New Jersey suburbs, sneaking into New York City to hear their favorite bands play. They burst onto the Americana scene in 2013 with their debut, Riverman’s Daughter, which features songs written while traveling the Mississippi River and the Louisiana swamps in search of inspiration.
The album was a worldwide smash in the booming Americana scene, eventually spending eleven weeks in the Top 40 at Americana Radio. The follow-up, 2015’s Glory Bound, influenced by the couple’s adventures on trains all over America, was declared “easily one of the best Americana albums of the year” by No Depression. A film, Rattle the Hocks, produced and directed by Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars, chronicled those journeys and became an international film-festival favorite.
For Kids Like Us, The Grahams once again lit out for parts unknown – this time on a wild motorcycle ride along Route 66, at the height of the 2016 election season. Their work with Richard Swift – and with co-Producer Dan Molad (Lucius, Elizabeth & the Catapult, The Wild Reeds), who later took over the project – was what enabled The Grahams to channel all that chaotic stimulus into something big, lush, ambitious, and profoundly satisfying.
With the kind of gorgeous, aching melodies only hinted at on their previous records, and the fearless arrangements that Swift and Molad are known for, Kids Like Us might just be one of those instant classics that music lovers used to swoon over in rock and roll’s heyday. It doesn’t hurt to have a killer band comprised of members of Lucius, The Night Sweats and The Raconteurs.
Where The Graham’s first two records were minimalist and sometimes acoustic, Kids Like Us finds the duo exploring a wider range of sounds, as befits a record written on one of America’s longest, most storied roads. The new songs grew out of motel-room whispers and campfire musings as much as from studio experimentation. They also grew out of the surreal election of 2016 – and Kids Like Us evokes the modern American condition in remarkably empathetic ways. While the record is “definitely political, it also attempts to understand the issues from the eyes of people all over the country.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for “Heartbroken Town”, one of the standout tunes on Kids Like Us. Featuring a dreamy and sensual guitar opening, the tune is smooth, slow and soulful. To accompany the duo’s sultry vocals and rich harmonies, the band layers in the kind of orchestration that throws it back Motown and elaborately produced pop music of the 50s. The fusion of retro soul, pop, and Americana comes together to give us a sound that is at once charming and deeply moving, not to mention super catchy. It’s easy to hear Richard Swift’s creative touch on the song as well.
In their own words, the band describes the inspiration behind the song:
“Deep heartbreak is a kind of derangement. You can be self-aware enough to know that the destructive things you are doing are only making things worse, without being strong enough to stop. ‘Heartbroken Town’ really explores that harrowing feeling without ever calling it out or revealing itself. The listener is never privy to the full story but they are able to feel agonizing heartbreak nonetheless.”
On the recording itself, they have this to say:
“This song, written with our co-writer BMC, was originally called “Damnable Town” and was more of a classic rock song. When Richard Swift added the Mellotron and Danny Molad added the tubular bells and timpani it took on a more modern, yet distinctly “70’s” musical style. The lyric “damnable town” no longer felt right. While recording her vocals Alyssa started singing “heartbroken town” and the song instantly told a different story, one more connected to the music.”
WATCH:
