The Junction

'City Nights' (album stream)

BY Sarah MurphyPublished May 15, 2017

Long-running Toronto three-piece the Junction are back with a new album called City Nights later this week, and Exclaim! is giving you an exclusive advance listen.
 
The LP marks the band's fourth overall, and it was recorded at the Slaughterhouse by By Divine Right's José Miguel Contreras. The new songs hear the band venturing into previously untouched territory, channelling influences like Radiohead, Pink Floyd and the score to Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

"City Nights is the perspective and self-reflection on nightlife," lead singer Brent Jackson tells Exclaim! "What is put into the party and what the party puts into you. Its ingredients are loss, detachment, world-weariness, substance abuse, apathy. But it also takes on love, empathy, and a general desire to change for the better and keep hope for the human condition."

The album starts off on a misleadingly titled high note with "Rock Bottom," taking listeners on a spacey, groove-infused trek. From there, they get existential on cuts like "Who Am I," "Changes" and "Do You Know Who You Are" before bringing the record to a dramatic close on the dreamy, free-floating title track.
 
City Nights officially lands on May 19 via Culvert Music, but you can give it an early spin right now in the player below.

If you like what you hear, be sure to catch Jackson at Dead Dog Records in Toronto this Friday (May 19) for an intimate acoustic album release set.

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