New Music

Listen To The Amity Affliction's Two B-Side Tracks!

Oct 19, 2020

7 min read

Last week, we told you how The Amity Affliction were set to release two songs that didn't make the cut on their latest album Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them and now you can read our thoughts on them below!

‘Midnight Train'

This one is the "love song" track according to frontman Joel Birch. It kicks off with Ahren Stringer's iconic cleans which lead us to the chorus where a distorted Birch chimes in with his screams/yells and the pair bounce back and forth between each other with plenty of "ohh woah ohs" and repetitive lyrics. In a live setting, this song could go off with plenty of sing-a-long moments throughout as the instrumentals open up towards the climax.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nstFf4KiLsI

‘Don’t Wade in the Water‘

According to Birch, it's the band's "don’t indoctrinate your children song" which means don't teach (a person or group) to accept a set of beliefs uncritically and if you're anti-religious, you're gonna have a good time!

This balladesque track features crisper screams, a sort of rap/rock feel throughout and is what you'd call the 'heavier' track of the two. It's definitely the better one in terms of sound with a small breakdown that'll get you nodding your head along and I could see this one sitting alongside 'All I Do Is Sink' and 'Just Like Me' from Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them.

On the new tracks, the band revealed:

'Midnight Train' came about from Ahren just singing 'midnight train' in amongst some other garbage when he did the scratch track for me to get an idea of how he wanted to sing the chorus," Birch shares. "We wrote the entire song around those two words, which wasn't actually hard because there was some context to it. It follows an arc of my relationship with my wife, ending where we are today. We've known each other for 25 years and the song covers some key moments for both of us."

As for "Don't Wade in the Water," Birch explains, "It's a song about my mother and father and the role the church had in separating them, and then the role that the church and religion played in my later life. Obviously, it is a play on the old hymn sung by Ella Jenkins, which is a beautiful, beautiful song. I wanted to contrast that with my own personal experience, which was disenfranchising to say the least."

He continues "There is a conversation happening within the song between my mother and father which is tumultuous and emotional, with two opposing sides with two opposing ways of viewing the world, and I really feel like it was captured well with the music. Ultimately, it didn't make the cut, but I honestly like this song as much as all the songs that made it to the record."

Don't forget to revisit our interview with guitarist Dan Brown when he appeared on our Wall of Sound: Up Against The Wall podcast earlier this year chatting all about ELYOYLT and the new music the band were already working on in January!

Suss the songs + exclusive merch right here