TRACK PREMIERE: "Like An Open Grave" By Great Lakes

The rootsy rock of Great Lakes seems all American, whatever that means anymore. The Jayhawks-y new single "Like an Open Grave" is an absolute gem, and one which I'm thrilled to premiere today. The group's new album will be out in November, and I'm confident in saying that it will likely be every bit as good as their last record.

For now, groove to this one, and read what band leader Ben Crum has to say about "Like an Open Grave" below:

"I wrote 'Like An Open Grave' as a reflection on regret and the creeping anxiety that hit me in my late 40's and early 50's: 'The future's out there, waiting like an open grave.' I've never believed it when people claim to live without regrets -- it always strikes me as too fervent a denial, like Shakespeare's 'The lady doth protest too much.' Lyrically, this song focuses on how I'd rather be honest: 'I only tell the truth, that way I don't have to keep track of lies,' and admit vulnerability: 'I don't know what I don't know and it scares me as it’s passing me by.'

Over the many years I've spent playing in bands, I've come to see being 'out beyond the notes' as the ideal musical experience–a state where you're improvising within parameters, not thinking about scales, hand positions, or chord changes. You're just existing in pure music. It's rare and fleeting, but when it happens, and you're able to get past all the little frustrations, annoyances, and inter-personal tensions of being in a band, it feels transcendent.

This song puts that idea alongside another: 'I'd be out beyond the notes if not for the pain / but modern American life's such a sham, does it matter, anyway?' America, both as a concept and in practical reality, feels like a big, empty lie -- government, religion, business -- it's all a ripoff. My reaction to that disillusionment, in the form of this song, aims to balance playfulness and defiance: 'When I fade away I'm gonna ride my skateboard across the astral plane.'"

"Like an Open Grave" by Great Lakes is out now. Details below. Don't Swim Too Close by Great Lakes will be out on November 7. Details via HHBTM Records.

[Photo: Great Lakes / HHBTM Records