Matt Hunter & The Dusty Fates are just hours away from releasing their latest album, Reindeer Soul (released date 6/7/). Still, before we receive the new album in its entirety, Glide is premiering the final single and video for the title track from the band’s latest effort. “Reindeer Soul” features a raw vocal performance over the emotional twang of The Dusty Fates for an expansive, moving ballad reminiscent of Sparklehorse and Jason Molina. The psychedelic video shows Hunter navigating life with an odd sense of a long-forgotten emotion looming behind his every turn.
“The idea for the Dusty Fates is that it would be an unstable, constantly changing cast of people, with me as the sole full-time member,” explains Hunter, who started the band just before the pandemic. This iteration of the band includes Hunter himself on guitar and bass, along with drummers Roger Murdock and Hampus Öhman-Frölund. “I love the idea that a band’s dynamic can constantly be in flux, based on whoever’s around, who wants to play at a given time, and who might be best for a particular song.” Reindeer Soul is the first album to be released under The Dusty Fates moniker, and the title track builds on the already high expectations of the album.
“‘Reindeer Soul,’ the song, is about how you remember a young crush or romance many years later. The unrequited ones, even though maybe they were never ‘completed,’ can hold a stronger spell over you than the ones that were — even if, or maybe especially if, your memory exaggerates the time or person in question,” explains Hunter. The longing in the vocals is palpable, although it doesn’t feel like a sad love song. The crashing drums and sentimental guitar tones accent the vivid imagery of the songwriting, creating a soulful atmosphere with twangy tones. “The opening riff happened when my wife and I were riding out the pandemic in a rented house near Cherokee Park in Louisville, KY. I almost threw it away, thinking it didn’t resolve in a way that made any sense. But I kept humming it on my daily walks in the park — which was, of course, one of the few activities you could do at the time — and the rest of it started to come together. I have no idea where the phrase ‘Reindeer Soul’ came from, but it stuck.”
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