SONG PREMIERE: Desert Noises Let Eclectic Sound Shine with Soulful Pop-funk Tune “Heavy Metal Underground”

Sometimes the best thing a band can do is take a step back. Such was the case for Nashville’s Desert Noises, who are preparing to release their new album, Everything Always (due out August 21st), after several years away from making music together. The time apart renewed the trio’s passion, a phenomenon that can be heard across the album’s electric and eclectic nine new tracks.

Desert Noises’ 2014 sophomore album 27 Ways was a critically acclaimed LP that earned the Provo, UT-born band a devoted following and performance slots at major festivals with its visceral energy and infectious rock songwriting. Everything Always doesn’t pick up where 27 Ways left off so much as it does build atop it, with the new LP expanding creatively on the melodic, often psychedelic rock of its predecessor.

Vocalist and guitarist Kyle Henderson, bassist Tyler Osmond and drummer Brennan Allen Lethbridge recorded the album with producer Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses) at Reynolds’ Fleetwood Shack studio in their adopted hometown of Nashville, TN.  The album is the band at its most expansive, with Henderson’s songwriting reaching new levels of vulnerability and the band matching that energy with complex yet infectiously listenable arrangements.

The early seeds of Everything Always were planted in 2015, after Henderson moved back home to Utah following a difficult divorce. The move essentially broke up the band, and Henderson then assumed that his Desert Noises days were behind him.

Henderson got back in touch with Osmond and shortly moved back to Nashville. As he tells it, the band took some time to find its footing following their time apart, but eventually things clicked into place. “Feelings were hurt and it took us a while to get back into being something like a band again,” Henderson says.

Reforming Desert Noises was a feat of passion and perseverance for all three of the band’s members. While it was at times a difficult reunion, the trio ultimately found that their union as friends and band mates had grown stronger than ever during their time working on other projects, an evolution you can clearly hear across all of Everything Always.

Many of the first songs written for Everything Always came from Henderson’s writing sessions with Reynolds. Henderson and Reynolds immediately hit it off as friends and collaborators, and Henderson found himself surprised by how quickly they were able to write together. Reynolds soon became a key player in the album’s creation, eventually signing on to produce the LP. Henderson, Lethbridge and Osmond agree that Reynolds was essential to the band finding its new sonic direction following their time spent apart.

Both Lethbridge and Osmond spent their time away from Desert Noises touring extensively with other artists, including Cage the Elephant, Harpooner, Rayland Baxter and Liz Cooper and the Stampede. Both musicians say that time out on the road was formative to how they approached playing on Everything Always, and that the experiences granted them a new perspective on the music they would eventually make for themselves.

Everything Always is a certainly vivid account of just how far Desert Noises have come, but more importantly it’s a thrilling look at where the innovative young band is heading. Hit play and let Desert Noises transport you to a place where everything is always happening.

Today Glide is excited to premiere “Heavy Metal Underground,” a standout track on the new album. Making a strong impression right out of the gate, the fires off with a wash of feedback and a funky groove that brings to mind the Talking Heads. The rhythm-heavy arrangement and the accompanying ambient background of a crowd cheering – a sound that many of us are dearly missing right now – coalesces with the dreamy chorus and the band’s soulful electro funk groove that is dreamy, poppy, and totally danceable. There is an 80s coolness to the song, which beckons to be blasted while cruising the lonely night streets with your windows down. 

Kyle Henderson of Desert Noises explains the vibe of the song and the process behind it:

“‘Heavy Metal Underground’ feels like driving a cherry red ’87 Porsche Carrera from Vegas to the Santa Monica Pier. Think Ryan Gosling in Drive or Grand Theft Auto Vice City minus the crime and violence and blood and stuff.

Bill (producer Bill Reynolds) encouraged us to find ways to ‘ruin our careers’ with each session and each song. With this one we may have succeeded.”

LISTEN: 

Everything Always is due out August 21st. For more music and info visit desertnoisesband.com.