Jail Socks’ New Single Tops End-of-Summer Playlists

By: Loren Powell

Emo is on a serious comeback tour in small-town scenes, and Jail Socks is one of the best bands on the bill.

The three-piece Charlotte, North Carolina-based band has been tearing it up on tour for a while now and its new single, “Poplar Avenue,” combines the clean and blistering riffs the band has always brought to the table, this time backed by heavier, more technical drums and a fuller sound from the rhythm guitar. The track blasts through your head as soon as it plays, drums and guitar and vocals blazing.

I wish I’d never said those things to you,
that at the time, I really thought I meant
when I called you drunk from Memphis, Tennessee
I couldn’t comprehend the gravity of things to come

The lyrics are bittersweet and screamable, and of course peppered by a riff that’s catchy and smooth and impossibly quick, both hallmarks of a good Jail Socks track. If some of the band’s earlier, quieter songs could be described as “winter emo,” this new single is full “summer emo,” bright and loud with a deep vein of raw sensitivity, perfect for blasting in the car with the windows down.

During the breakdown of the song, about two minutes in, each musician gets a chance to shine for a few bars and it’s even more apparent just how talented these folks are. The drummer, Colman O’Brien, and bassist Jake Thomas work together to lay a foundation with a driving kick, and guitarist Aidan Yoh comes in with that smooth and complex riff that grows to meet the intensity of the vocals for an exhilarating end that leaves you pressing repeat for another ride.

Even in the lead-up to the chorus, there is a kind of call and response that has the guitar, drums, and vocals weave in and out of each other, in unison, then offset. This band’s use of silence in their songs has always been something that gives them a ton of power, both onstage and in recordings, and any musician can tell you that being tight enough as a band to do that takes a ton of practice.

On the whole, they sound confident as a group, very in tune with each other, and the new single is impeccably mixed and mastered. There is a lot going on here but none of it gets lost. Having seen them on tour a few times this past year, the new single matches the level of pure joy and energy they bring to the stage.

The single, released by No Sleep Records, is now streaming at this link: http://nosleeprecords.lnk.to/poplaravenue and on Spotify and Bandcamp.