Posted: by The Editor
Time Spent Driving has long been one of the more underappreciated acts of the late ’90s emo heyday. Maybe it’s because their full-length debut Just Enough Bright dropped in 2002, well after most of the established acts had dissolved, or because they were based in California away from the mythic Midwest, or perhaps it was because they spent most of their tenure signed with Sessions Records, home to such kindred spirits as Eleventeen and Pop Unknown but certainly lesser-known than similarly-minded labels like Crank! or Deep Elm.
In any case, the band is back again, and hopefully this time they’ll get the recognition they deserve.
The band’s upcoming LP Estrangers continues from where the quartet left off with 2015’s Passed & Presence; in other words, the band’s driving, layered emo sound has progressed the way it would if they’d never stopped making music over the past twenty-five years. Previous Estrangers singles “Closed Circuit” and “Deep Blue” demonstrated that ably, continuing the band’s progression. New single “Intents and Purposes,” though, takes them to a new level. It’s got one of the biggest hooks they’ve ever penned, and Jon Cattivera’s never sounded quite so sure of himself as he does all throughout the song. He shares that, compared to Passed & Presence, which the band viewed as their reintroduction to the world, Estrangers is “a little simpler in many cases, perhaps as a nod to some of our earliest work. I just didn’t want to overthink it.” “Intents and Purposes” absolutely benefits from that simplicity; in fact, it’s all the more powerful for it.
The band says of the track that it’s “partially about letting go, and has a hopeful and renewed spirit. I feel like there’s a nice balance between our more melancholic leanings in the verses and an optimistic brightness in the choruses that shines through.” Check out the video for “Intents and Purposes” exclusively below.
Estrangers is out tomorrow.
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Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
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