Australia's Quivers craft bright, jangly pop that draws influence from bands from their own backyard, like The Go-Betweens, and calls to mind bands from the '80s, like early-R.E.M., or in the case of today's featured track, the warm, crisp guitar sound of The La's. Today, KEXP premieres the new single "When It Breaks", as first heard earlier today on The Morning Show with John Richards.
The band originally formed in Hobart, Tasmania by songwriter/frontman Sam J. Nicholson, and is now based in Melbourne. Last year's full-length, We'll Go Riding On The Hearses, was a stunning debut, written by Nicholson following the sudden loss of his brother in a diving accident. Their latest single also draws from Sam's past... but maybe doesn't. We asked Nicholson to tell us more about "When It Breaks":
I think it is the most power pop sounding we've been — we wanted the guitars to sort of glow in the dark. It's got a chorus that we shout live. The song is sort of about how we are invincible and live forever until we don't. As Springsteen said "everything dies baby that's a fact, maybe everything that dies someday comes back." Me and my best friend both had cancer when we were kids and maybe in a strange way this song is about that. I'd prefer to think it isn't though and it is another pop song about love and being afraid of the dark until you aren't.
"When It Breaks" will be released digitally on October 30th. Stream the track below, check out their November Australian tour dates, and revisit their in-studio session from March 2019.
