Track Premiere: Damn Tall Buildings “Cold Rain”

At last the return of one of our favourite NWOABB artists (that’s New Wave Of American Bluegrass Bands, you’ll recall.  It’s been a couple of years now since we last heard from Damn Tall Buildings (seen above indulging all their vices).  Not that multi-instrumentalist and primary lyricist Max Capistran (guitar and banjo), bassist Sasha Dubyk, and fiddler Avery Ballotta have been idling away the hours, they’ve put together a new album ‘Sleeping Dogs‘ which will be released on September 9th.  It features the band’s trademark blend of bluegrass, roots rock, old time, and vintage swing for a music that is determinedly of Now.

‘Cold Rain‘ is taken from the album and beneath its light touch there’s a message of things falling apart in some way not fully understood – there’s the shock of sudden rain appearing from nowhere, there’s “sitting in shade / But who are we fooling burning up just the same.”  Maybe it’s love, maybe it’s something else – but that which seems to be fine actually isn’t fine and things are going wrong all around, if one just bothers to pay attention.  So, maybe not love all things considered.

But, as Damn Tall Buildings told Americana UK, there’s also a message of taking hold of one’s life all through the changes: “‘Cold Rain’ is the first song we produced together as a trio. Sometimes life takes you by surprise and everything hits you all at once. Or, maybe you’re able to skirt the thought of the things you try not to think about, only prolonging the inevitable. Everything comes to the surface eventually, and we’re here to help grab that shit and face it head-on. It’s not as scary if we face it together—‘I’ve been feeling like this for too long.’”

‘Cold Rain‘ features guest players Dylan McCarthy on Mandolin and Micah Cowher on drums.