The Hold Steady – Constructive Summer

Hold Steady Live

“Constructive Summer” is the lead song off the Hold Steady’s fourth and soon to be released (July 15h) album, Stay Positive. The Hold Steady is unabashed in their reverence for Springsteen, someone I never got into, but an influence easily appreciated in their sound. Their songs are sincerely melodramatic, turning even the most mundane adolescent memories into epic victories or hallmark stories, typically laced among fluid piano breakdowns and sharp, classic-rock guitar solos. The hooks are huge, and the stories even bigger.

The song opens: “Me and my friends are like/the drums on Lust For Life/We pound it out on floor toms/Our songs are sing along songs” amid overdriven power chords and intricate, angular guitar spurts. It’s a one two punch to the adrenaline gland. They’re drinking on top of water towers and raising toasts to “saint Joe Strummer,” doing everything I’ve always romanticized as summer.

As my first official post with indiemuse, I’d like to share it with you. And if you dig this sound, grab a copy of Boys and Girls in America, and work from there.

m4a: “Constructive Summer” – The Hold Steady

From their first album, The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me

“Certain Songs” – The Hold Steady

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=OCZB3nSoNbU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=IfQ_xQS_7mA[/youtube]

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This entry was posted in Alternative, MP3's, Song of the Day and tagged , , , by Nick. Bookmark the permalink.

About Nick

"Don’t ask me why I obsessively look to rock n’ roll bands for some kind of model for a better society. I guess it’s just that I glimpsed something beautiful in a flashbulb moment once, and perhaps mistaking it for prophecy have been seeking it’s fulfillment ever since. And perhaps that nothing else in the world ever seemed to hold even this much promise" - Lester Bangs 1977 That about sums up why I write about music. I go to school at Boston University with Akhil, one of the other indiemusers, and we share similar views on music. I just want people to hear stuff. Sometimes I wish I were more eloquent. I also write for Performer Magazine, and play in the band You Can Be A Wesley. And that's me!

3 thoughts on “The Hold Steady – Constructive Summer

  1. coincidentally, i was drafting a post on the hold steady yesterday!! “contructive summer” is a grea song, probably my favorite on the album. a perfect summer anthem.

    i’d love some feedback on my blog, i just renamed/restarted it.

    http://halfapersonblog.blogspot.com/

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