Yukon Blonde are back. Today the Vancouver indie rockers premiere their new single, “Get Precious,” via American Songwriter along with a kaleidoscopic lyric video.
Videos by American Songwriter
According to a press statement, bandmates Jeff Innes, James Younger, and Brandon Wolfe-Scott wrote the tune last summer after Innes and Younger heard a demo that Wolfe-Scott was working on at the time.
“Brandon had this demo of a song, it was called ‘Love Isn’t On Your Mind,’” recalls Innes. “Me and James were ribbing him about the lyrics, but the guitar riff was amazing, so we decided to use it.”
That guitar riff drives the track, a groovy garage rock number that calls to mind The Black Keys—if The Black Keys could pull off a spectral, French-language, synthesizer interlude.
“The lyrics for ‘Get Precious’ are more or less collaborative between me, Brandon and James,” Innes continues. “We were just in this space together creating, having a wonderful time when a conversation struck about relationships came up. As it does. We had all been in toxic situations in the past where we had friends or partners, who seemed to be upset when you’re thriving outside of their sphere. Like crabs in a bucket. It was almost revelatory how universal that feeling is—and so we wrote a song from the perspective of somebody in and out of these relationships, somehow simultaneously involved, but not affected by them.”
“Get Precious” builds on some of the key themes that Yukon Blonde explored in their last record, 2018’s Critical Hit.
“This record is more or less about dating or forming relationships in the internet age; the saga this creates, especially in love breaking down, brick by brick,” the band told Clash in 2018. “The internet has made everyone go crazy, and human relationships have taken a beating.”
“This is a loose definition of the vibes we were on when we made the record,” they continued. “It’s hard to do a song by song breakdown, because as much sarcasm and wit as there is on this record, there is some intensely private shit in the lyrics too, and sometimes the vibe is just more our obsession with synthesizers and drum machines, aesthetics over lyrics.”
That obsession with synthesizers, drum machines, and aesthetics has held steady, as “Get Precious” arrives with a colorful and idiosyncratic lyric video made from archival footage. The titles of the source videos—“American Look,” “Discovering Creative Pattern (Revised),” and “Art. People. Feeling.”—perfectly capture the cerebral-retro-psychedelic vibe of the final product, which is featured below.
Yukon Blonde is rounded out by Graham Jones and Rebecca Gray. “Get Precious” marks their first single of 2020, following Critical Hit, 2015’s On Blonde, 2012’s Tiger Talk, and their 2010 self-titled debut.
“Get Precious” is out July 17 via Dine Alone Records. Pre-save it here.
