Entertainment

Listen To Brand New's First New Music In 6 Years

by Alyse Whitney

When Taylor Swift had Chris Carrabba sing Dashboard Confessional's "Hands Down" at her friend's birthday party, you were probably hit with a big punch of nostalgia. (By the way, Carraba is almost 40 and married now.) It's time to transport yourself back to your emo high school days again now that Brand New has released new music for the first time in six years. Send out the S.O.S. call, Jesse Lacey fans, because the new songs — yes, plural — are fantastic and more reminiscent of Deja Entendu than The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me.

The only officially released song is "Mene," a drum-heavy, head-banging track with a screaming chorus of "we don't feel anything!" It was put out for free download on April 13 and has since been put on iTunes for purchase while still remaining the homepage of Brand New's website. The chaotic music video matches the song's insanity and splices together old footage of the band with very '90s video effects for double the nostalgia. The song is full of the raw emotion that Brand New is known for, and I probably would have thrashed around my room to this when I was in high school.

The next new song, "Sealed to Me," was debuted live at their April 15 show in Los Angeles. Lyrics were reportedly handed out at the merchandise table before Lacey introduced the song as their encore. He explained that it's difficult to write songs, which is why it takes them so long between albums, but that this one was for his wife, friends, and family who put up with him for all these years. "It's hard being 37 and learning a lot of hard lessons that you should've learned when you were 17, but I'm learning 'em, I guess," he said. "And this song is about that."

This song is the opposite of "Mene" — quiet rock that only features Lacey and his guitar — but is equally nostalgia-inducing and exciting. Brand New's range has always been one of the best parts of the band, expecting the unexpected and getting an eclectic mix of music with every album. "How you feeling? Are you healing? What's it mean to be sealed to me?" Lacey questions in the chorus. It's time to unseal that new album, Jesse Lacey — I don't know about all of you, but I'm so ready for more Brand New music. Let's party like it's 2003.

Image: Brand New/Facebook