The National Honor Society has premiered their new video for the track titled ‘The Following’, the 3rd single off their upcoming album, To All The Distance Between Us (April 21 Shelflife/Discos De Kirlian/Subjangle).
Uplifting as it is memorable from that first chord struck, ‘The Following’ brandishes the style of The National Honor Society as a calling card that your new favorite band has arrived. Feeling a bit groovy and smug all in one breath, this is a song that takes you in and immerses you into a world you paint and pray with the music as a guide.
A bit gaze, a bit glory. With a dose of creativity and, you’re in. Post apocalyptic with a smile on the face. Finality or fresh start? Isn’t that up to any of us?
About ‘The Following’
Working alongside standout PNW filmmaker Kyle Porter, The National Honor Society speaks to the urgency of the moment in “The Following,” the 3rd single off their upcoming album, To All The Distance Between Us (April 21 Shelflife/Discos De Kirlian/Subjangle).
With a similar feel to the barren landscapes that punctuated the postpunk videos of the early ‘80s, Porter pulls together dark imagery from the band and the desolate beaches along the Northwest coast of America, in order to clarify and classify the mood that runs through this otherwise upbeat musical homage to 80’s and 90’s dreampop. Upbeat, but with a few bolts undone, allowing the carousel wheel to wobble off its axis, just like the feel of one of those old boardwalk amusement parks, the kind that punctuates small coastal towns all over the world, after the bombs have gone off. The people are gone, yet the carnival songs keep playing, over and over, always and forever.
“The Following” demands answers. The why of it, being the greatest mystery. As this new anniversary repeals and replaces the annualized memorial of 9/11 as this generation’s defining moment, the factions are marching in opposite directions, quicker than before. Quicker than ever before. If bleakness were currency….
But the job of a band is to give us all a place to escape, even for 3 minutes and 57 seconds, which, incidentally, is the amount of time it takes The National Honor Society to tell this tale. They do it without being too on the nose, and the jangling guitars combined with the kinds of synthesizer sounds known to all who have at least one Dream Academy record in their collection, take the listener away with a sympathetic ear towards what we’re all going through, these days. Laughing to keep from crying. Jangling to keep from sinking.
About The National Honor Society
Like the rest of the world, Seattle indiepop band The National Honor Society found themselves facing the problem of isolation. Pre-pandemic, they recorded their debut album, 2020s To All The Glory We Never Had, which was well-received. So what to do for the follow-up, when the world is forced into isolation?
“This was a new process for everyone in the band as it was the first time any of us had recorded an album remotely,” says frontman Coulter Leslie. “Having always historically gone to studios, there was the fear that maybe that unique studio magic or energy wouldn’t be there, but what we found was that the unlimited time we had to record our parts really allowed us to explore ideas and to go in different directions that we might have, had the clock had been ticking. So I think that’s why you’ll hear a little more adventure in this record as compared to our first.”
Thus was born To All The Distance Between Us, released April 10th via Shelflife/Discos de Kirlian/Subjangle Records, an album that carries on the band’s formula of dreamy pop and rock. Fans who fell in love with their gentle, Ocean Blue-style melodies will be happy to hear songs such as “As She Slips Away” and “Remember The Good Times,” both gentle numbers that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on their debut album.
But the real reward comes from the results of the aforementioned experimenting. “Control” is a frenetic rocker with an XTC-minded urgency that wouldn’t sound out of place on current modern rock radio. “It’s Killing Me” gives Franz Ferdinand a run for their money, while “The Trigger” is a driving shoegaze inspired rocker that is relentless in its beat. Then there’s lead single “In Your Eyes,” which is supple and lush in its harmonies and its gentle melody, a fine love song perfectly fit for the spring crush mixtape you know you want to make.
To All The Distance Between Us offers up nine gorgeously produced and lushly arranged indie-pop that will draw you in with its sunny disposition and will warm you with its windy, sunny melodies.
National Honor Society is Coulter Leslie (Lead vocals, guitars), Jerry Peerson (Lead guitar, backing vocals) Andrew Gaskin (Bass, backing vocals), and Will Hallauer (Drums).
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/thenationalhonorsociety/
https://www.instagram.com/nhsband01/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQ0ZCSpnfgoUJHD2PU2S3w
https://thenationalhonorsociety.bandcamp.com