Today, Tucson indie rockers Weekend Lovers return with a jangly and jarring new tune called “Larvae Love,” premiering below.
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“‘Larvae Love’ is a bratty summer love song of bad habits, disconnects, and the void of waiting around for a monsoon rainstorm that never came,” bassist / vocalist Marta DeLeon tells American Songwriter over email. The track follows the band’s latest single, “Big As the Dark,” and their 2018 debut EP, When U Were Weird. It’s dark and driving, pairing DeLeon’s guttural vocals with throbbing basslines and retro rock ‘n roll flourishes.
“I had watched the Linda Ronstadt doc and wanted to capture her rock vocal style and sonic arrangements,” DeLeon explains. “A dash of Tom Petty, the Hollies, and dream pop. I also needed an upbeat pop song that was more rock-pop tradition in structure than the other songs on the album.”
The album in question is Weekend Lovers’ forthcoming LP, I Love U In Real Life, which is due in November.
“I spent most of 2019 recording the album at Midtown Island with Matt Rendon at the helm again from the debut EP,” says DeLeon. “It’s again an entirely 8-track analog no isolation room experience. Some of the songs had been written but most of them I started little sketches on bass and vocals with my assemblage of ‘Superfriends’ powered bandmates—Gabriela Lisk and Danny Perez. Matt was George Martin of sorts playing a lot on the album as well as putting his harmonies ‘Beach Boy’ stamp vocal arrangement on the songs.”
Before moving to Tucson, DeLeon was based in New York City where she fronted The Meaning of Life—another band that coated its pop and rock influences in a scuzzy sheen.
“My fantasy bands and influences are Fleetwood Mac and the Mamas and the Papas, though you will definitely hear some neu wave and grunge touches,” says DeLeon of her musical inspirations. “I’ve lived in Seattle, NYC, and AZ, so that may sum up the music DNA of Weekend Lovers.”
“Ultimately the songs [on I Love U In Real Life] share some amount of heartbreak,” she continues. “The album title is the gasp of earnest proclamation playing on at our generational speed of drive-by emojis and texts and living far away from my family for so long. What’s the McDonald’s saying? ‘One 99 Billion Broken Hearts Served’ could be the funny-but-sad stream of inspiration for writing music. Last-chance love letters to people who didn’t hear the first time.”
You can check out one such love letter below and follow Weekend Lovers here.
I Love U In Real Life is out in November via Totally Real Records.
