Photo Credit: Carina Duffy Brittany
I bet you didn’t know this, but “You’re a Star,” the latest single by Asbury Park, NJ’s The Extensions, is the third entry in a trilogy about self-awareness, local celebrity, and trying just a little too hard. The first two songs, “Follow You, Unfollow Me” and “Scene Famous” appear on the band’s High Charisma LP, undoubtedly one of 2023’s most perfect records.
Singer Brian Erickson delivers his lyrics more like a skillful actor while the rest of the band (bassist Will Blakey, guitarist Becca Cristino, keyboardist Lisa LoVell, and drummer Pete Stern) create a maelstrom of sound, pulling his voice down further and further into the abyss until he leaps back out with the song’s emergent line, “You’re a star / Or at least you say you are.” Not only is this a terrific piece of lyric-writing, but the interplay among musicians is some of the best in the biz; specifically Stern and Blakey who seem to fit together like one of the great rhythm sections!
The song itself rattles with an echo of early 2000s Queens of the Stone Age, and any fan of top-tier melodic indie rock could do worse off than to check this song out. And the only reason we can’t unfortunately count it as one of early 2024’s best new tracks is that it came out toward the end of 2023, slipping it past the radar of most “year-end” lists.
But what we can do is recommend you listen to “You’re a Star,” the High Charisma LP, or pretty much anything else The Extensions have released. They’re one of New Jersey’s most exciting bands and if recent output is any indication, they’re just beginning to hit their stride!
And if you’re in the Asbury Park, NJ area on Sunday January 21st, go see their afternoon set at Bond Street Basement as part of the Light of Day Festival.
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