The Pretty Flowers will release their new album Never Felt Bitter on March 27th. In anticipation, you can find the single “To Be So Cool” and its accompanying music video on YouTube through the link below.
The band is from Southern California, and the song bears the familiar marks of a culture that is unique to Los Angeles, including “plastic dreams that felt elastic” and the comforting feel of a “good enough afternoon.” The sound effectively blends The Replacements with early Death Cab for Cutie, creating an alt-rock aesthetic at once critical of contemporary culture and trendy iterations of what it means to be “so cool.” It is an earworm to be sure, but one that refuses to succumb to the overly polished and non-edgy production of mainstream radio.
The music video is simple but charming, as the various band members take turns singing and playing their respective instruments in the back of a pickup truck while driving around what I can only assume is L.A. The songwriter Noah Green writes that “the new album was born against a backdrop of constant upheaval in the band’s hometown.” This upheaval includes ongoing ICE raids, summer fires, and a country now at war with Iran, and the lyrics capture the anxiety of this politically fraught existence. Green sings, “But we got so doomed/ We didn’t know what to do/ We got broke like a matchstick.”
Still, he holds out for what he calls “proof of life,” and I would contest that this song is proof enough–proof of life and evidence of a record that will be well worth the wait. In the meantime, you should check it out for yourself by watching the video below.
Written by SilenceKid
