Arkells Are "Floating Like" Motown on New Single

The surprise addition to 'Blink Twice' samples '69 soul tune "Seven Years" by the Impressions

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Nov 17, 2022

Having blinked once and then twice, something is apparently still caught in Arkells' eyes: your friendly neighbourhood Hamilton-formed quintet have shared exuberant new single "Floating Like."

The surprise-addition new track caps off September's Blink Twice, which served as a companion to 2021's Blink Once.

"'Floating Like' is about trying to free yourself of the allure and pull of material things and finding happiness in the simple wonders of life," bandleader Max Kerman shared. "It was written around a sample we cut up from the Impressions and their song 'Seven Years.' We added as many Motown soul tricks to the production with the goal of finding the joy and lightness of those classic tunes. It's a special song for us, so we wanted to give it its own release and runway."

Kerman added, "Blink Twice is now complete." The song is getting tacked onto the album's extended tracklist at No. 11, standing as one of the few non-collaborative tunes on the feature-heavy record (although that's Curtis Mayfield you hear wailing in the chorus). If you know Arkells, you know they love a soul interpolation, so making use of this Impressions track from 1969's The Young Mods' Forgotten Story makes all kinds of sense — and captures the ecstatic energy of the Canadian rock titans' live show.

"I was on the waitlist, I was on the waitlist / I could almost taste it," Kerman sings in the bridge, potentially hitting a little too close to home for some who tried to purchase Taylor Swift tickets this week.

Watch the video for "Floating Like" below.


Arkells will likewise round off their 2022 Canadian tour with a Toronto show next Friday (November 25).

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