SONG PREMIERE: The North Country Shines On Atmospheric Experimental Indie On “Inside Outside”

Photo by Mike Kimchi i

There’s a moment on the new The North Country single “Inside Outside,” when you hear the sounds of east coast’s Grizzly Bear and west coast’s Local Natives converge into an atmospheric soundscape sandwich of sorts. While they certainly arent’ middle for anything, North Country has earned a spot in the conversation for its pristine indie pop harmonies and experimental ethos.

After the successful release of two singles, “Future Humans” and “Freaks” with sold out release shows in DC and New York and a tour to SXSW coming up, the band was gearing up to share their music and brimming with optimism. Then Covid struck. Just as it did for literally everyone else on planet earth, the rude awakening halted all momentum, forcing the band to cancel their tour, just two days before they were set for their first show.

Determined to still collaborate over 2020 and 2021, the band came up with the idea for the project that would become Born at the Right Time (Exquisite Corpse), a true covid-lockdown record, written and recorded completely collaboratively and completely remotely using only home studio equipment.

The process was this: each member of the band would write and record a short piece of music and then send it to one other person in the band. Then they would work on it, adding to it for one week, and then pass it along to one other person in the band. Using a 6×6 matrix of non-repeating numbers in rows and columns they set up a schedule so that each piece of music was passed to a new person in the band, in a unique order, and each person was sent to and received from someone new each week. Nobody heard the whole thing until the very end.

The results work definingly as Glide is premiering the pre-mentioned “Inside Outside,” from The North Country which shines as a challenging yet accessible ear hook piece that peaks and channels an overtly poignant song and lyrical mission.

“This song was written in the depths of lockdown as a reflection of the feeling of social and ecological collapse. There had been a lot of hand-wringing about going outside and staying inside, and that dichotomy presented itself as an interesting crux for the song.”