This is their first release in over 10 years, and Mad Bunny Records is thrilled to present this tuneful, unerringly melodic, harmony driven, groovy, nostalgic and yet absolutely-of-the-now collection of songs, all recorded in Hamtramck, Michigan. From the NACC chart topping first single Diamond Ring to All I’m Asking, Whisper To Me, You Get Closer, Numbers, I Needed Someone, Learning To Get It Wrong, Don’t Listen to Her, The Third Time, and Stranger, the entire album boasts outstanding musicality, brimming with energy and an upbeat pop sensibility even through darker lyrical content – heartbreak never sounded so good – owing to the expert and expansive production by Matthew Smith and Jeff Oakes.
"LONESOME GALAXY sounds to me like a combination of everything that ever got played on the Canadian radio stations in Windsor, across the river from Detroit, particularly in the 70's" said Matthew Smith. He had also previously described the record as “aural postcard from the shadows of Detroit City.”
Peter Andrus, whose guitar sound seamlessly shifts from the jangly You Get Closer to the jamband grooves of Numbers to the driving I Needed Someone, and the tender emotive work on Stranger, describes the record as “a Rust Belt hook-dipped haunted jukebox.”
In fact it was through Peter, who was a childhood friend of musician and label founder Ben Harper, that the band came to be on Mad Bunny Records. Ben has been a fan and aware of the band for many years, so when Andrus later joined The Volebeats, (who incidentally is one of two members who don’t live in Detroit – hence why it took the band nearly a decade to make this record!), and played Ben these new songs, he knew he wanted them to come out on Mad Bunny.
The Volebeats started working on these tunes several years ago, but because they live in different cities, the writing and recording sessions were spread out over a long period of time. The sessions took place in the living room and kitchen of a house built in exactly the same style as the old Motown studio on Grand Boulevard, on a very analog set up - 1/2 inch 8-track machine. The low-fi produces a warm and full sound but is an arduous process when it comes to mixing - when the overdubs of guitars and backing vocals have to be punched in at various points to share a track with other instruments, as guitars switch to vocals, then maybe to a percussion overdub and then back again, all on the same track, all the while moving the faders up and down, trying to make sense of it all.
The band recorded a lot of songs and endured a long period of indecision regarding the track listing until Ben Harper heard the sessions. He helped inspire and direct what eventually became an album sequence the band all liked.
In terms of the title, Matthew Smith explains, “LONESOME GALAXY refers to a few things that were on our minds. 'Lonesome' is a word from the lexicon of country music at least since Hank Williams, and it conjures a sense of solitude one might encounter in the desolate American West, or in outer space, or on the moon, or even during a pandemic. 'Galaxy' refers to the Galaxy Drive-in theater, a 60's-style drive-in out in the suburbs of Detroit before it was torn down in the 80's, that used to be a good place to watch science fiction movies. As we've been living in a sci-fi film for a while now, and since many of the songs on this album have an introspective spaced-out quality, it seemed a fitting title. Coupled with the artwork by Detroit artist/musician Ava East, as well as Jeff Oakes' photos of toy spacemen, all reinforced this concept.”
The first single, with lots of vocal harmonies and inspired guitar interplay, was an instant hit at radio and the band wants to send special thanks to the following stations for adding Diamond Ring: CHMR (St. John's, NL Canada), KGLT (Bozeman, MT), KLCZ (Lewiston, ID), KXUA (Fayetteville, AR), WHFR (Dearborn MI/Detroit), WLFR (Galloway, NJ/Atlantic City / South Jersey), WSCA (Portsmouth, NH), WSIA (Staten Island, NY), WODU (Norfolk, VA), WERU (E. Orland, ME), CJAM (Windsor, ON / Detroit, MI), KGLT (Bozeman, MT), KRBX / Radio Boise (Boise, ID), KRVS (Lafayette, LA), KXRN (Laguna Beach, CA), KZFR (Chico, CA), WCSF (Joliet, IL), WDET (Detroit, MI), WRIU (Kingston, RI), and WUTK (Knoxville, TN).
