Not long after the release of their strong first full length, As Much Nothing As Possible, Boston post punk band, True Faith, return with a seven-inch release which finds them taking the well executed post punk sharpness of their sound a step further into the more approachable territories the waters of which they successfully tested in their aforementioned debut.
Spring in Boston equals a fresh breath of air for the band, and the levels of confidence and buoyancy arise, as medical students, Travis Benson and Quentin Moyer, put more flesh on the bones of their embracive darkwave, and with the addition of their peer in medical studies, Dylan Kotliar, comprise a band justly prone to dark sentiments, and steadily emergent.
"This 7-inch is really a transition point between our more synth-focused material from As Much Nothing As Possible and our new guitar-focused material with our next album," Travis Benson comments on Leucovorin Rescue b/w What Is Owed. "As a two-piece, I think we had the realization that replicating much of As Much Nothing As Possible live would be extremely difficult. With — hopefully — live shows returning on the horizon, I think we had the understanding that if we wanted to perform these tracks live, we would need more people involved. Dylan Kotliar joined the band to play bass and this opened up a lot of different avenues for us to explore. Between his contributions to songwriting and our ability to practice as a band again, this helped shift the sound from less of a synth-pop vibe from some of As Much Nothing As Possible to more of a post-punk feel a la The Chameleons, Second Empire Justice-era Blitz, and Mesh and Lace-era Modern English."
Leucovorin Rescue is resolutely closer to a traditional, guitar-based, sharp post punk compared to True Faith's bond to coldwave and synthpop, and aside from the display of the band's fresh direction, it also becomes the track which blends their creative world with the real one more intently than ever before.
"The term was used for the song," Benson says specifically of Leucovorin Rescue, "because it serves as a metaphor for having an outlet or release to save you from the unwanted side effects of life that we often experience."
"I think that many people can have the assumption that there is an inherent privilege that is experienced by many people who are pursuing graduate-level education," Benson further comments. "For the most part, they are right. But for us, we are very much out of our element. Each of us coming from rather humble backgrounds, to say the least, attending medical school is a major culture shock. The rigors of medical school are already anxiety and depression-inducing on their own; you are constantly forced to work 80-plus hour weeks, made to feel that you are constantly at the bottom of a hierarchy, etc. It’s just very demoralizing, especially for people who are not from the typical class that occupies that space. This has certainly influenced our songwriting and provided a cathartic outlet to escape that world for a moment."
Band photo by Quentin Moyer
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