A staple on the indie scene for decades now, The Wedding Present is no stranger to at least two generations of indie music lovers. With the impending U.S. release of their new Going, Going… album via Athens-based Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records around the corner (December 2), we are quite chuffed to present you the premiere of the single “Broken Bow”.

About the new album, Wedding Present frontman David Gedge says, “It’s loosely based on a road trip across the USA from Maine to California which I did myself along with photographer Jessica McMillan. We traveled through twenty states and so it seemed obvious to work on twenty pieces of music. It wasn’t until we started recording demos that I realised that it wasn’t all going to fit on a single LP! In the end it’s five tracks per side of vinyl… and the geek in me likes the symmetry in that.”

This album was recorded at Studios La Fabrique in the south of France and Parr Street Studios in Liverpool with multiple Grammy award winning producer Andrew Scheps (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath, Adele).

“Broken Bow” is a ripper of a track that takes a headlong dash through several minutes of clanging guitars, a squeal of feedback, and a rush of adrenaline – it’s a pleasant kickback to earlier tracks like “Brassneck” and “Kennedy”, with better production, clearer vocals and, if I may say it, the welcome effect of a female wooing back vocals and then interjections of “ Failure is so much greater than the pleasure of success.”

“Broken Bow” is track fifteen on Going, Going… – this is but one track of twenty offerings on their new album, the first since their highly acclaimed Valentina LP. This is the band’s first double album, with all tracks named after places in the USA. “Broken Bow” is in Nebraska and also a clever metaphor used by David Gedge in this track, about a man who wants to go home and feels like an outsider – who wanted freedom and now hates it:

At first I liked the space but I didn’t not anticipate exactly how much I would hate
Not seeing your perfect face every morning as I wake
So, yes, that was my first mistake!
Oh, I’m the man who changed his mind
Oh, I’m the man who’s been so blind
he said: “You’re not from ’round here’ and, though he said it with a smile
He made me feel like an exile
It’s becoming pretty clear that, the longer that I roam, the more I think I should go home
I should’ve done this long ago
Oh, I’m the man with the broken bow
And the pain is failure is so much greater than the pleasure of success
Yeah the pain is failure is so much greater than the pleasure of success
Oh, I’m the man who changed his mind
Oh, I’m the man who’s been so blind
I should’ve done this long ago
Oh, I’m the man with the broken bow

We also invite you enjoy this playlist of a handful of tracks the band has made available for streaming in advance of the album’s release:

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