Photo by Kelly Mason
Written by Bethany Clancy
A little over a week ago, The Wonder Years released a new song that wasn’t supposed to be out until December. “Brakeless” is the first new material from the band since their last record “Sister Cities” in 2018.
The band promised on Twitter that if they got 1000 people to register to vote through HeadCount before October 20th, they would release one of two songs that were recorded over the summer in the style of 2010's "The Upsides" and 2011's "Suburbia I’ve Given You My All And Now I’m Nothing", to celebrate the ten year anniversaries of those albums. This song will definitely bring fans back to the time when the band solely sang about sleepless nights on airport floors and getting stranded in different cities.
“Brakeless” puts a modern touch on a song that feels like it could be from one of those older eras, discussing uncertain times and how hard of a year it has been, even for vocalist Dan Campbell. The line that'll really bring fans back to "The Upsides" is, "It's seven in the morning / And only four degrees.”
There are also mentions of more recent topics, like city budgets and closing local libraries, reducing free educational access. The storytelling in the song is another element reminiscent of the band's older material, when their songs took listeners on a journey from point A to B; they've seemed to mature this time around, more focused on current events that the struggles of a twenty-something-year-old.
Although they couldn't play their semi-annual Halloween show in person the way they had been used to due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band still played virtually through a live stream (their costume/cover band set this year was in the style of Blink 182). The stream was also used to celebrate the release of “Brakeless”, which they performed for the first time at the virtual show.
The band is said to release the second single written in the summer, this December. To make sure you don't miss it, give them a follow on Twitter @TheWonderYears.
If you'd like to support The Wonder Years, you can do so by picking something up from their merch store and streaming "Brakeless" wherever you listen to music. If you did listen to the song and want to let us know what you think, feel free to chime in by tweeting us @lgndsoftmrw!
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