The Pollies to release “Not Here” on September 25th via Single Lock/Thirty Tigers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 29, 2015

 

The Pollies To Release Not Here On September 25th

Via Single Lock/Thirty Tigers

 

Album produced by Ben Tanner of Alabama Shakes’ fame

and The Pollies singer and songwriter Jay Burgess

 

Florence, AL-based quintet The Pollies is set to release its new album, Not Here, on September 25, 2015 via Single Lock Records/Thirty Tigers.  Recorded at Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, MS, and produced by Ben Tanner (of Alabama Shakes) and The Pollies’ lead singer and songwriter, Jay Burgess, the album is the band’s first for Single Lock/Thirty Tigers and the follow-up to their 2012 release, Where The Lies Begin.  The album shows the band shedding their alt-country skin in favor of experimental noise and unadulterated risk. Not a surprise from a band that is known for defying genres and leaping over boundaries.

“When you write a song, you have a million different things you can do with that song,” lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Jay Burgess says.  “On our records, we always try to shake up the landscape. On this one, we incorporated a lot of elements that we normally wouldn’t think about using.  It changed the atmosphere of the music and pushed it in a different direction.”

Burgess hits on all the familiar topics—love, loss, regret and triumph—with an edge and ferocity that shows up on tracks like “Lost” and “Jackson.”  Simply put, these are compelling stories—and Burgess has stepped into his own as a gifted storyteller.  “Love lost is what drives the record lyrically,” Burgess says. “Some of these songs started as musical ideas—where I’d record something on my phone and then go back three or four times and make sense of the words—and other songs were just there without a lot of work.”  Throughout the record, the subject matter changes, but the themes remain:  love, loss, regret and triumph.  “The record isn’t just about losing love,” Burgess says.  “It’s about surviving the aftermath of that.”

The title of the album comes from the way Burgess felt when he wrote most of the album, like he was watching his life unfold from afar.  “I was almost living parallel to myself,” he explains.  “I watched myself react to what some people probably view as ‘normal life occurrences,’ but for me, someone who’s never been through these kinds of things, it was very difficult.”

“Lost,” a fan favorite, started as one phrase and a host of different musical ideas. “It was a song that I had sitting around with unfinished and unrealized lyrics,” Burgess says.  “I’d do multiple recordings of it with different lyrics.  One phrase I kept coming back to was, ‘I wish I was lost.’”  For weeks, that one line stayed on my notepad.  Soon after that, a friend of mine found out his marriage was falling apart.  I was someone for him to talk to, and after one of our conversations one night, the words for ‘Lost’ just fell into place.”

Another standout track, “Jackson,” came together in a much quicker fashion—with a far different focus.  “I’ve always been into revolutions—more specifically thinking about what things would be like if they hadn’t happened,” Burgess says.  “Obviously, a major movement in this country’s history was the Civil Rights movement.  I think about how long that effort took and how great the risk was, and it’s amazing to me.  I thought I had heard all of the stories that went along with the movement until I heard the story of Jimmie Lee Jackson.”

Jackson, a church deacon, was beaten and shot to death by Alabama State troopers during a peaceful voting rights march. His death was one of the inspirations for the Selma to Montgomery marches.  “At the time, there was no movie explaining him and his involvement with the Selma story,” says Burgess.  “He’s pretty much the reason Dr. King came to Selma, and I found his story inspiring in many different ways.  I had to write something about him, and frankly, I could’ve probably done an entire record on him.”

The press has been kind to The Pollies for its past music:

  • “In an ideal world, discovering a band like The Pollies wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but then again, in an ideal world, every band would be able to seamlessly blend and arrange the root elements of rock and roll while forging into new territory to create songs that sound so natural and effortless that you don’t notice the intrinsic complexity and massive undertaking that each track represents.” – Last.FM
  • “Jay Burgess’s voice is ragged enough to sound like he’s been a few places, but sweet enough to make your heart clench a little.” – No Depression
  •  “This is a band that pays more than lip service to defying genre classification, but in a way that’s organic, real, and rock ‘n’ roll.” – Twangville
  • “Welcome to the world of The Pollies – where the fenders of beauty are rusted out and the muffler fell off a while back, but oh, sweet Jesus… what a ride.” – Relix
  • “Drawing comparisons to Wilco, The Pollies continue to bolster the region’s reputation for producing great musicians.” – Paste Magazine (12 Bands to Watch from Alabama)

The Pollies is Jay Burgess (lead vocals, guitar), Reed Watson (drums), Danny Hurley (keyboard, vocals), and Spencer Duncan (bass, vocals).  The band plans to tour in support of the album; tour dates will be announced soon.

 

pollies.net