Your favourite local old-timey phone users (is anyone else suddenly missing the tactile delight of those spiral cords?) Arkells have plucked Lights from the Earth's last remaining functional payphone booth and joined forces for aptly back-to-basics new single, "Human Being."
It's the latest preview of the Hamilton-formed band's seventh studio album Blink Twice, following 2021 album Blink Once's previous collaboration-forward cuts with Aly & AJ, Coeur de pirate, Cold War Kids and some (either simulated with audio trickery or real) actual kids on lead single "Reckoning."
"We wanted a chaotic energy — something like Talking Heads meets Billy Joel," bandleader Max Kerman said of the new track in a release. "We are learning a lot about ourselves on this record. This song is about finding a truer version of yourself; the one you've hid in the past. The song is searching for a kind of freedom that conventional life paths have to offer. Once we had it in good shape we sent it to our friend Lights, who is the best at writing about this kind of discovery."
Lights added: "To me, this song feels like an anthem for seeking out moments and people that can make you feel something. We all need a shake up and we all hate being stuck in a rut. We all, as humans, share commonalities and needs that bring us together."
And what's more human than putting all your cards down in a game of poker? Watch the tilt-a-whirling video for "Human Being" below.
It was recently announced that Arkells would receive the Allan Slaight Impact Honour at this year's Canada Walk of Fame Gala — potentially because of even the country's overwhelmed airlines' inability to keep them down.
It's the latest preview of the Hamilton-formed band's seventh studio album Blink Twice, following 2021 album Blink Once's previous collaboration-forward cuts with Aly & AJ, Coeur de pirate, Cold War Kids and some (either simulated with audio trickery or real) actual kids on lead single "Reckoning."
"We wanted a chaotic energy — something like Talking Heads meets Billy Joel," bandleader Max Kerman said of the new track in a release. "We are learning a lot about ourselves on this record. This song is about finding a truer version of yourself; the one you've hid in the past. The song is searching for a kind of freedom that conventional life paths have to offer. Once we had it in good shape we sent it to our friend Lights, who is the best at writing about this kind of discovery."
Lights added: "To me, this song feels like an anthem for seeking out moments and people that can make you feel something. We all need a shake up and we all hate being stuck in a rut. We all, as humans, share commonalities and needs that bring us together."
And what's more human than putting all your cards down in a game of poker? Watch the tilt-a-whirling video for "Human Being" below.
It was recently announced that Arkells would receive the Allan Slaight Impact Honour at this year's Canada Walk of Fame Gala — potentially because of even the country's overwhelmed airlines' inability to keep them down.
